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Russia will withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025 as Moscow seeks to build its own and turns to China for co-operation https://on.ft.com/3dzPLj4
Russia’s decision to leave the ISS would sever one of the most prominent and long-lasting areas of collaboration between Moscow and Washington https://www.ft.com/content/a1518565-e643-42ae-a650-02e9c3bdd657
The US and Russia jointly launched the ISS in 1998 in what was seen as a major step to rebuild ties between the cold war adversaries that had spent more than four decades competing with each other for extraterrestrial supremacy https://www.ft.com/content/a1518565-e643-42ae-a650-02e9c3bdd657
Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, recently called for the country to ‘properly maintain its status as one of the leading space . . . powers’ in a speech to mark the 60th anniversary of the first-ever human space flight of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin https://www.ft.com/content/a1518565-e643-42ae-a650-02e9c3bdd657
Recent years have seen a number of clashes between the US and Russia over their competing space activities. Leaving the ISS, which orbits 420km above the earth, may also imperil co-operation between Russia and the European Space Agency https://www.ft.com/content/a1518565-e643-42ae-a650-02e9c3bdd657
Russia has faced newly imposed US sanctions and condemnation from Europe over the jailing of opposition activist Alexei Navalny; abandoning the ISS is the latest addition to recent tensions between Moscow and western capitals https://www.ft.com/content/a1518565-e643-42ae-a650-02e9c3bdd657
News of the intended withdrawal from the ISS comes after Russia signed a memorandum with China to jointly build a base on or orbiting the Moon, after rebuffing an offer from the US to join a Nasa-led project for a similar lunar base https://www.ft.com/video/7fd4be0f-af8c-466b-b6f8-e45eb1df3160?playlist-name=editors-picks&playlist-offset=0
