In
a meeting with space industry officials, Putin also vowed to
proceed with Russia's lunar program despite the failure in
August of its first moonshot in 47 years, Russian news agencies
reported.
Putin said Moscow's decision to extend to 2028 its participation
in the ISS, now 25 years old, was a temporary measure.
"As the resources of the International Space Station run out, we
need not just one segment, but the entire station to be brought
into service," Putin was quoted as saying of the new Russian
orbital station.
"And in 2027, The first segment should be place in orbit."
He said the development of the station had to proceed "all in
good time" or the Russian program risked falling behind in terms
of the development of manned space flight.
The new station, he said, had to "consider all advanced
achievements of science and technology and have the potential to
take on the tasks of the future".
Yuri Borisov, head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos,
endorsed Putin's position as a means of maintaining the
country's capabilities in manned space flight.
"The ISS is getting old and will come to an end sometime around
2030," Russian agencies quoted him as telling reporters.
"If we don't start large-scale work on creating a Russian
orbital station in 2024 it is quite likely that we will lose our
capability because of the time gap. What I mean is the ISS will
no longer be there and the Russian station won't be ready." In
his remarks, Putin also said he had been informed fully about
the technical mishaps that led to the crash landing of the
Luna-25 craft in August on the moon's south pole.
"We will of course be working on this. The lunar program will
continue. There are no plans to close it," Putin said.
"Mistakes are mistakes. It is a shame for all of us. This is
space exploration and everyone understands that. It is
experience that we can use in the future."
Borisov said the next moon launch might be moved forward to 2026
from 2027 as now planned.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Sonali Paul)
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