On Tuesday, Russia’s space agency said that they will launch their own space station till 2025, as Moscow is planning to withdraw back from the International Space Station (ISS) program to start working on their own.

According to Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin, the first module for the space station is under process and also on a Telegram statement Rogozin said that, “The first core module of the New Russian orbital station is in works”. At this, officials have also warned that they are under discussion with the authorities on whether to remove themselves from ISS or not.

Rogozin also posted on twitter that- Russia’s Energia space corporation is ready to launch in 2025, and alongside he attached a video of a staff working at the Energia centre.

Russia lost its domination for flights to ISS after a successful launch of SpaceX’s spacecraft (Elon Musk’s space agency), which is currently working in US. Roscosmos also made a statement during an interview with AFP that “When we make a decision, we will start negotiations with our partners on forms and conditions of cooperation beyond 2024.”

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said in recent days that Moscow was considering whether to leave the ISS programme from 2025 because of the station’s age. This announcement came with the tensions rising over espionage claims, deteriorating health of President Vladimir Putin’s critic Alexei Navalany who is behind the bars and a Russian troop build-up on the borders of Ukraine.

Russia this month marked the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in orbit. The country’s space programme has been struggling in recent years. The Russian space agency has announced many ambitious and well-gathered plans in the past few years; due to lack of funding the plans could not be accomplished, while on the other hand the analysts say that Putin is more interested in the military activity and trials.

About ISS

The International Space Station (ISS) is basically a multi-national construction project that aims at putting the largest single structure humans in the space. Some of the significant construction work was done by them between 1998 and 2011. It continued to evolve since then, but the main occupancy was since November 2000.

The ISS includes contributions from 15 nations, but the major contributors are NASA (USA), Roscosmos (Russia), and European Space Agency, they contribute in the major funding. Some other members of the ISS are Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and Canadian Space Agency.