Russia to withdraw from International Space Station after 2024

Russia says after 2024, it will pull out of the International Space Station (ISS) and build its own station instead.

Since 1998, Russia and the US, and other partners have successfully worked together on the ISS. But relations have soured since the Ukraine war and Russia's threat previously to quit the project because of Western sanctions against it. However, NASA said it had not yet received official notice of Russia's intention to withdraw from the program.

The ISS has been in orbit around Earth and has been used to conduct thousands of scientific experiments since 1998. It is approved to operate until 2024. The US wanted to extend it for six more years with the agreement of all partners. But at a meeting, Mr. Borisov told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Roskosmos would fulfill its obligations to its partners. Still, the decision had been taken to quit the project after 2024.

If Russia leaves, it would be problematic. The station is designed to make the partners dependent on each other. The US side of the ISS provides the power, and the Russian side provides the propulsion and keeps the platform from falling to Earth.

If that propulsive capability is withdrawn, the US and its other partners – Japan, Canada, and Europe - will need to periodically devise other means to boost the station higher in the sky. It's something American robotic freighters could do.