Roscosmos announced plans to build a new orbiting space station by 2028

Russia will create a new orbiting space station that will replace the existing segment of the ISS. The corresponding decision was made by the scientific and technical council of Roscosmos, reported on the website of the department.

The members of the Scientific and Technical Council (STC) noted that the further operation of the Russian segment of the ISS after 2024 “creates additional risks due to the aging of a significant part of the equipment.”

“In order to prevent the termination of the continuous development of near-earth space infrastructure, it has been proposed to create a national manned space complex in low-earth orbit – the Russian orbital service station,” the statement by Roskosmos says.

The representatives of the department also noted that the new orbital station should become an “evolutionary step” in the implementation of the program for the exploration of the Moon, flights to Mars and the development of innovative scientific and technical programs in space.

In addition, during the meeting of the Presidium of the Scientific and Technical Council (STC), it was decided to take all the necessary measures to maintain the ISS operability and safety during the construction of the future station. The council members also noted that it is necessary to start working on the appearance of the new orbital station and the preparation of the corresponding sketches as soon as possible.

The new station is expected to start operating in 2028.

Today it became known that the Russian module “Science” is integrated into the segment of the International Space Station.

Formerly crew signed in in MLM to start a full-fledged activity in the module after the completion of the operation of the air purification filters and proceeded to the installation of ventilation. Last Thursday, after docking the module to the ISS, the Russian crew planned to enter the living area of ​​the instrument-sealed compartment, but this was not done.

After the docking of the module, an abnormal start of the Nauka engines took place, due to which the station was turned 45 degrees. To compensate for the impulse, the engines of the Zvezda module and the Progress cargo ship had to be used. Roscosmos explained the incident by working with fuel residues in the Science module.

According to the US agency, due to the current situation, the launch of the Starliner spacecraft to the ISS, scheduled for Friday, was postponed. Roscosmos said that the postponement of the launch is associated with bad weather conditions. According to the state corporation, “the flight of the International Space Station continues according to the planned program.”

Note that the launch dates for the “Science” module have been repeatedly postponed. Initially, the launch was scheduled for 2017, but was postponed to 2018 due to a blockage in the fuel system, which could provoke a breakdown of the ISS propulsion system, so the module was returned to the manufacturer for revision.