According to Yury Borisov, director general of Roscosmos, it is too soon to predict if Russia would abandon the International Space Station project. Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov said in an interview with TASS.
According to Yury Borisov, the technical state of the Russian component, the schedule for the deployment of the Russian orbital station, the beginning of Russian cosmonaut flights to the station, and other criteria will determine how long Russia will be a project participant.
“We now have a Russian cabinet decision, to extend the flight of the Russian segment of the ISS to 2024. There’s no other official document that regulates further participation or exit from the ISS program after 2024 as yet. Therefore, it’s too early to say Russia is leaving the ISS program,” he said.
According to Borisov, a number of criteria, including the technical state of the Russian portion, the deployment schedule for the Russian orbital station, the launch date for cosmonaut missions to the station, and others, will determine how long Russia will remain a project participant.