Russia may be planning on pulling out of the ISS (International Space Station) as the country nears the end of its commitment in 2024. From there, Russia would commit toward building its own space station by 2030, which will place a lot of pressure on what will be a fascinating yet dangerous race to space.
Apparently, Russia is no longer happy with the current state of the ISS, which is their (current) reason for showing interest in something else. Meanwhile, Russia has also been making plans with China to build a joint operation on the moon (lunar base), which means they may be looking to replace US relations with China in the coming future.
This has NASA worried about future relations with the country as this would clearly have a major impact on the state of the ISS and its operations. It would also completely shift political relations between our countries, as well as future goals.
In a recent interview with CNN, Bill Nelson (NASA Chief) explained that “If Russia starts just depending on China, then, I expect we would have a whole new race to the moon with China and Russia against the US”.
There are still a few more years to go before Russia makes a move. As of now, the country is still pushing forward with the ISS. The most recent activity is the decommissioning of the Pirs module. The Pirs module will fall down into orbit and burn up next month. Aftward, it will be replaced with the new Nauka module for the purposes of future scientific research in space.
The next few years may be interesting as our countries continue to communicate on what will come next. No matter what, there is a race that has been building up for some time now. It will all come down to who we will be racing against.
As long as it doesn’t turn into an Earth vs Mars vs the Belt, kind of thing.
