Russia should review the conditions for participation in the ISS

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FILE PHOTO: Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft carrying ISS crew takes off from Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia is expected to consider revising the terms of its participation in the International Space Station, a Russian space industry executive said on Thursday as it wishes to focus on forming its own orbiting outpost after 2024.

Russian space agency Roscosmos has said it will be part of the ISS until 2024 and is ready to expand its participation beyond that date.

“We must reconsider the conditions for future participation in the program (ISS) and focus on the implementation of the orbital station programs,” said Vladimir Solovyov, deputy director of Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, as quoted by the Internet portal of scientific Russia.

The state-owned company oversees the Russian segment of the ISS, which was launched in 1989 by Russian and US state space agencies.

Solovyov, who was speaking at a meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences focused on space, did not say whether Russia should leave the ISS before 2024.

He said much of the equipment on the ISS was starting to age and needed to be replaced. He said there would be an “avalanche” of broken material after 2025.

The ISS is used for space and terrestrial exploration by 14 countries, including Japan, Canada and members of the European Space Agency. International agreements on its use are valid until 2024.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Additional reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Timothy Heritage)