On July 14 (local time), according to TASS, Director General of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Dmitry Bakanov said that Russia and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have agreed to extend the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) until 2030.
Speaking at a press conference after the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft successfully docked at the ISS, Mr. Bakanov said this is one of the 3 important contents that Roscosmos and NASA have reached a consensus on.
We have agreed on 3 key issues. The first is to continue operating the International Space Station together until 2030," said the head of Roscosmos.
The new agreement shows that Russia and the US still maintain cooperation in the space field, despite geopolitical tensions between the two countries over the years.
On the same day, the Soyuz-2.1a missile carrying the Soyuz MS-29 was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan) at 14:48 GMT. After more than 3 hours of flight, the ship successfully connected to the ISS at 17:52 GMT.
Soyuz MS-29 brought 3 crew members to the station, including two Roscosmos astronauts, Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, and NASA astronaut Anil Menon.
According to the plan, 3 members will stay on the ISS for 261 days to perform scientific research tasks and maintain the station's system.
Roscosmos said the delegation's work program includes 38 scientific experiments in many fields, and two spacewalks to maintain and upgrade equipment on the ISS.
The International Space Station was put into operation in 1998 and is the largest scientific cooperation project between many countries, including Russia, the United States, Europe, Japan and Canada. Over the past 2 decades, the ISS has become an outer space laboratory serving thousands of experiments in biology, medicine, physics and technology.
The extension of operations to 2030 is assessed to help partners continue to exploit the scientific value of the ISS while preparing for the transition phase to commercial space stations and new generation space exploration programs.
