Russia says it will quit International Space Station

The newly appointed head of the space agency Roscosmos announced that Russia will pull out of the International Space Station.

This is reported by Russian media citing the Head of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov’s statement.

He made this statement at a meeting with Putin regarding the development of Roscosmos.

“You know that we conduct work within the framework of international cooperation on the International Space Station. It is sure we will fulfil all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave the station after 2024 has already been made,” cited media the Roscosmos leader.

He also announced plans to build a Russian orbital station by this time.

NASA reported that they had not received any official messages from the Russian side, Reuters news agency reported with reference to a high-ranking official at the Roscosmos.

The International Space Station is a manned space orbital station. It has been in operation since 1998, the space agencies of the USA, Japan, Canada, Brazil, the European Union and Russia worked together on its creation. It was built to conduct scientific research in space.

It was planned that the station would operate in orbit until 2010. In 2008, it was decided that the work would continue until 2016 or 2020. At the beginning of 2015, it was reported that the station will operate until 2024.