Roscosmos: it will take more than a year to flood the International Space Station

The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, touched upon the topic of decommissioning the International Space Station. According to a top manager, it will take more than a year to flood the ISS.

“Why must a technical solution be associated with undocking? If you drown the station, then it is not necessary to undock it. It will simply have to be safely brought down with the help of the braking engines. It’s also not fast work. The procedure will take more than a year, as our ballistics specialists and the general designer for manned cosmonautics, Vladimir Alekseevich Solovyov, explained to me. At one time, the controlled mixing of the Mir station became one of the most unique technical operations in the entire history of world cosmonautics.– said Dmitry Rogozin.

However, now the main thing, according to the head of Roscosmos, is to determine the period of cooperation between Russia on the ISS project with other countries. “Yes, Americans want before 2030. Before there were talks – until 2028. But, I say it again, we need to decide the main thing – to continue cooperation on the ISS or switch to ROSS [Российская орбитальная служебная станция]. And then we will decide what we will do with our two new ISS modules, which we docked last year.”– said Dmitry Rogozin. Recall that in early April, Dmitry Rogozin announced that a decision on further Russian participation in the ISS project would be made after Roscosmos “reports its position to the political leadership of the country.”

In April 2021, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Yuri Borisov stated that the state of the ISS leaves much to be desired, so Russia can focus on creating its own orbital station. The Energia Rocket and Space Corporation was tasked with ensuring the readiness of the first module for the new domestic orbital station in 2025, which will be the scientific and energy module.