Not a surprise to me. The way I see it, United States policy on space exploration under current leadership is holding the Russians back from accomplishing bigger and better things.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... -2024.htmlFor almost two decades, the US and Russia have cooperated on the planning and construction of one of the greatest undertaking of mankind: the International Space Station.
But that could all be set to change as Russia is apparently going to withdraw from the project sooner than expected and build its own space station.
The new orbiting laboratory would be run by Russia alone, and it might be used as a precursor to missions to the moon.
Crunch time for the ISS: Russia plans to quit the station in just six years - but Nasa is fighting to keep it running until 2024
The development, reported by The Moscow Times, suggests Russia will not prolong its participation in the ISS beyond 2020.
Nasa, meanwhile, had been hoping to keep it running until 2024, and possibly as late as 2028.
Beyond that, it's thought the hardware will be too old to continue safe operation in space.
'We are looking into various options, while building an orbital station as a substitute for ISS is one of them,' deputy chief of Roscmos Denis Lyskov said earlier this week according to Space Daily.
By 2018 it is planned to begin performing manned launches from this location, to alleviate some of the strain on Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Russia wanting to build a new space station is not entirely new; the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, has previously stated their desire to build their own, beyond the ISS.
And what new space activities does the U.S. have planned?
Nothing.
Apologies from our generation, President Kennedy.
Slider... <sniff, sniff>... you stink.
