Russia to Quit International Space Station 'after 2024'

Space experts said Russia's departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the country's space sector Handout NASA/AFP/File
Space experts said Russia's departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the country's space sector Handout NASA/AFP/File
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Russia to Quit International Space Station 'after 2024'

Space experts said Russia's departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the country's space sector Handout NASA/AFP/File
Space experts said Russia's departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the country's space sector Handout NASA/AFP/File

Moscow said Tuesday it was leaving the International Space Station "after 2024" amid tensions with the West, in a move analysts warned could lead to a halt of Russian-crewed flights.

The confirmation of the long-mooted move comes as ties unravel between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine and several rounds of devastating sanctions against Russia, including its space sector, AFP said.

Space experts said Russia's departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the country's space sector and deal a significant blow to its program of crewed flights, a major source of Russian pride.

"Of course, we will fulfil all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made," Yury Borisov, the new head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, told President Vladimir Putin, according to a Kremlin account of their meeting.

"I think that by this time we will start putting together a Russian orbital station," Borisov added, calling it the domestic space program's main "priority".

"Good," Putin replied.

The ISS is due to be retired after 2024, although US space agency NASA says it can remain operational until at least 2030.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of hope for US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.

The United States said it was taken by surprise by the announcement.

"It's an unfortunate development given the critical scientific work performed at the ISS, the valuable professional collaboration our space agencies have had over the years," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

In a statement to AFP, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the agency "has not been made aware of decisions from any of the partners, though we are continuing to build future capabilities to assure our major presence in low-Earth orbit".

Until now, space exploration has been one of the few areas where cooperation between Russia and the United States and its allies had not been wrecked by tensions over Ukraine and elsewhere.

- 'Like an old woman's flat'-
Russia is heavily reliant on imports of everything from manufacturing equipment to consumer goods, and the effects of Western sanctions are expected to wreak havoc on the country's economy in the long term.

Space expert Vadim Lukashevich said space science cannot flourish in a heavily sanctioned country.

"If the ISS ceases to exist in 2024, we will have nowhere to fly," Lukashevich told AFP. "At stake is the very preservation of manned flights in Russia, the birthplace of cosmonautics."

Pointing to Russia's growing scientific and technological isolation, Lukashevich said the authorities could not plan more than several months in advance and added that even if Russia builds an orbiting station, it would be a throwback to the 1980s.

"It will be archaic, like an old woman's flat, with a push-button telephone and a record player," he said.

Space analyst Vitaly Yegorov struck a similar note, saying it was next to impossible to build a new orbiting station from scratch in a few years.

"Neither in 2024, nor in 2025, nor in 2026 will there be a Russian orbital station," Yegorov told AFP.

He added that creating a fully-fledged space station would take at least a decade of "the most generous funding".

Yegorov said Russia's departure from the ISS meant Moscow might have to put on ice its program of manned flights "for several years" or even "indefinitely".

The move could also see Russia abandon its chief spaceport, Baikonur, which it is renting from Kazakhstan, Yegorov said.

Russian Soyuz rockets were the only way to reach the International Space Station until SpaceX, run by billionaire Elon Musk, debuted a capsule in 2020.

- 'Difficult to restore' -
The Soviet space program can boast of a number of key accomplishments, including sending the first man into space in 1961 and launching the first satellite four years earlier. These feats remain a major source of national pride in Russia.

But experts say Roscosmos is now a shadow of its former self and has in recent years suffered a series of setbacks, including corruption scandals and the loss of a number of satellites and other spacecraft.

Borisov, appointed in mid-July, replaced Dmitry Rogozin, a firebrand politician known for his bombastic statements.

Rogozin had previously warned that without cooperation from Moscow, the ISS could de-orbit and fall on US or European territory.

In a possible sign of disagreement with Borisov, Vladimir Solovyov, chief designer at spacecraft manufacturer Energia, said Russia should not rush to quit the ISS.

"If we halt manned flights for several years, then it will be very difficult to restore what has been achieved," he was quoted as telling the Russky Cosmos magazine.



Musk Calls Trump’s Tax-Cut and Spending Bill ‘a Disgusting Abomination’ 

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)
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Musk Calls Trump’s Tax-Cut and Spending Bill ‘a Disgusting Abomination’ 

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. (AFP)

Billionaire Elon Musk plunged on Tuesday into the congressional debate over President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill, calling it a "disgusting abomination" that will increase the federal deficit.

Several fiscally conservative Republicans in the US Senate supported the views Musk expressed in social media posts, which could complicate the bill's path to passage in that chamber.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore," Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk wrote in a post on his social media platform X. "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination."

He added: "Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it."

Musk's comments hit a nerve. Republican deficit hawks have expressed concerns about the cost of the bill, which would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump's main legislative accomplishment, while boosting spending on the military and border security.

The House of Representatives passed it by one vote last month, after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the measure would add $3.8 trillion to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt.

The Senate, also controlled by Trump's Republicans, aims to pass the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" in the next month, though senators are expected to revise the House version.

Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees tax policy, are due to meet with Trump at the White House on Wednesday afternoon to discuss making the bill's business-related tax breaks permanent, according to Senator Steve Daines, a panel member. Analysts have warned that such a move would greatly increase the measure's cost.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he disagreed with Musk's assessment about the cost of the bill and stood by the goal of passage by July 4.

"We have a job to do - the American people elected us to do. We have an agenda that everybody campaigned on, most notably the president of the United States, and we're going to deliver on that agenda," the South Dakota lawmaker told reporters.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson also dismissed Musk's complaints, telling reporters, "my friend Elon is terribly wrong."

TEST OF INFLUENCE

Musk's loud opposition to a bill that Trump has urged Republicans to pass presents a test of his political influence a week after leaving his formal role in the administration as a special government employee with the Department of Government Efficiency came to an end. As DOGE chief, he upended several federal agencies but ultimately failed to deliver the massive savings he had sought.

The richest person in the world, Musk had spent nearly $300 million to back Trump's presidential campaign and other Republicans in last year's elections. But he has said he would cut his political spending substantially while returning to his role as Tesla CEO.

The White House dismissed Tuesday's attack, just as Trump dismissed earlier Musk complaints about the legislation.

"Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill," spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said at a White House briefing. "It doesn't change the president's opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he's sticking to it."

REPUBLICAN DISAGREEMENTS

Senate Republicans were divided about the bill even before Musk's missives. Deficit hawks are pushing for deeper spending cuts than the $1.6 trillion over a decade in the House version, while another coalition of rural-state Republicans are pushing to protect the Medicaid healthcare program for low-income Americans.

One of the hawks, Senator Mike Lee, called on party members to use the Trump bill and future spending measures to reduce the deficit.

"We must commit now to doing so, as this is what voters justifiably expect - and indeed deserve - from the GOP Congress," the Utah Republican said on X while reposting Musk's message.

Republicans have a 53-47 seat majority in the Senate and can afford to lose support from no more than three members, if they expect to pass the legislation with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance by a July 4 deadline.

Another hardliner, Senator Ron Johnson, predicted that lawmakers would not be able to meet the deadline and secure an adequate number of cuts.

Lee and Johnson are among at least four Senate hardliners demanding that the bill be changed to restrict the growth of the debt and deficit.

The faction of party lawmakers determined to limit spending cuts to project Medicaid beneficiaries and business investments in green energy initiatives is of similar size.

"I certainly have an interest in making sure people with disabilities are not harmed. But also, there's the broad issue of how does it affect hospital reimbursements," Senator Jerry Moran told reporters.

"There's a set of my colleagues who are pushing to do more. And so, it turns on how do you get the votes to pass a bill," the Kansas Republican said.

Other Senate Republicans said lawmakers may have to look elsewhere to boost savings, including the possibility of leaving Trump's much touted tax break proposals for tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits for later legislation.

"Those are all Democrat priorities. I'm not sure why we shouldn't be doing that in a potential bipartisan bill to create headspace for this bill," said Republican Senator Thom Tillis.