Russia, US Aim to Create New Space Station After 2024 - Roscosmos Chief

BAIKONUR (Sputnik) — Russia and the United States plan to jointly establish a new space station after 2024 with participation of partner countries, Russian space agency Roscosmos head Igor Komarov said Saturday.

"Roscosmos and NASA will fulfil the program of building a future orbital station. We will elaborate the details. It is going to be an open project, not restricted only to current participants, but open for other countries willing to join it," Komarov said.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who is currently on a working visit to the Baikonur cosmodrome, said that one day the International Space Station would be unable to function properly and should be replaced. Bolden stressed that both NASA and Roscosmos agreed that part of future building activities should be passed over to the private companies.

The International Space Station, launched in 1998, consists of different modules. The station brings together the space agencies of Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan, as well as the European Space Agency.

NASA announced extension of cooperation with its International Space Station partners, including Russia, for another nine years in February. The US-Russia cooperation on the ISS continues despite the fact that NASA halted the majority of its joint activities with Russia over the Ukraine crisis in April 2014.