Despite recent setbacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Thursday that the first section of the new space station Moscow intends to build to replace the International Space Station (ISS) should be in orbit by 2027.
Russia has long stated that it intends to leave the International Space Station (ISS), where its cosmonauts are stationed permanently and the nation plays a major role.
Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has instead declared that building a new orbital space station will be its top priority.
“The goal is to ensure that there are no gaps in the work and that it keeps up with the ISS’s resource depletion,” Putin said in a televised meeting with industry experts on Thursday.
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The Russian space industry challenges
The president declared that “everything should be done in good time” and stated, “The first segment should be put into orbit in 2027.”
The Russian space industry, which has always been the nation’s pride, has long faced financial difficulties in addition to corruption scandals and other difficulties.
In August, during pre-landing maneuvers, Russia’s Luna-25 module experienced a major embarrassment as it crashed onto the moon, marking Moscow’s first mission to Earth’s natural satellite since 1976.
Errors happen. This task is intricate. It’s unfortunate. Although it was a bad experience, we will use it to ensure we don’t make the same mistakes in the future,” Putin declared, pledging to keep supporting moon missions.
