KALUGA. April 15 (Interfax) - Roscosmos will do its best to continue interacting with NASA, Roscosmos head Yury Borisov said, adding it is a pity that such a joint achievement as the International Space Station (ISS) "is being practically nullified."
"Believe me that we, both sides, and I still meet with NASA colleagues, would deeply regret losing this interaction. Of course, we will be doing everything we can to keep it going for as long as we can because it enriches world cosmonautics," Borisov said in a lecture for students and cadets at the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of Cosmonautics History in Kaluga.
"It is a pity that such an achievement made since the time of detente and the Soyuz-Apollo mission in 1975 is being practically nullified," he said.
Roscosmos and NASA are negotiating the development of unified docking modules for mutual assistance in space after the end of the cooperation project. "We are discussing the development of universal docking modules for security reasons, as the life of a cosmonaut in orbit is the most precious thing. In case of emergencies or any unforeseen [situations] there should be a possibility to dock with Russian or U.S. spaceships - there is nothing to quarrel over when lives need to be saved. I think our work will continue in this area," he said.
Russia and the United States are not planning massive projects of the ISS kind after 2030, Borisov said. "I mean, most likely, there will be a Russian space station, the Chinese have their project, and the Americans will have theirs," he said.
The first module of the ISS, which is Russia's Zarya functional cargo unit, was put in orbit in 1998. Two years later the first long-term mission to the ISS began, and the station has always been manned since then.
In April 2023, the Russian government extended the operation of the ISS Russian segment until 2028. All other parties to the project extended it until 2030.