Inside Putin’s plans to put Russia’s own space station in the sky – which is happening sooner than you think

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has revealed more about his plans to put his very own space station up in the sky.

It’s happening sooner than you think.

ReutersA model of a new Russian orbital space station at the international military-technical forum Army-2022 at Patriot Congress and Exhibition Centre in Moscow, August 15, 2022[/caption]

ReutersThe model, nicknamed “Ross” by Russian state media, is the only signal as to what the proposed Russian space station may look like[/caption]

AlamyOperated by the Soviet Union and later Russia, Mir was the first modular space station, which was in orbit from 1986 to 2001[/caption]

Last week, Putin said the first segment of Russia’s new space station should be fully operational by 2027.

That gives Russia, which is amidst a nine year long war with Ukraine, just four years to build a orbital post to rival the International Space Station (ISS).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Russian leaders have been rather tight-lipped regarding the country’s full plans for the orbital hub.

But with the 25-year-old ISS slowly heading towards retirement, Moscow believes a new space station is the next logical step.

In August last year, Russian space agency Roscosmos unveiled a physical model of what a planned Russian-built space station will look like.

The model, nicknamed “Ross” by Russian state media, is the only signal as to what the proposed Russian space station may look like, which resembles that of China’s own Tiangong post.

Yuri Borisov, head of Roscosmos, had said last year that Russia will quit participating with the ISS after 2024 and that it is working to develop its own orbital station.

Plans have since changed, with that date being pushed back by four years.

However, in a meeting with space industry officials last Thursday, Putin said Moscow’s decision to extend its participation with the ISS to 2028 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 told reporters, according to Russian news agencies.

“The ISS is getting old and will come to an end sometime around 2030.

“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.”

Russia has long wanted to reduce its dependency on western countries after sanctions were imposed on them following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Launched in 1998, the ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2000 under a US-Russian-led partnership.

That partnership also includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.

But in January last year, Nasa announced it would de-orbit the station by 2031.

Since then, a raft of replacements have been proposed.

In his meeting with space officials last week, Putin also reportedly vowed to proceed with Russia’s lunar programme despite the country’s first moonshot in 47 years ending in failure in August.

Calling the lunar crash “a shame” and “mistake”, Putin confirmed that the lunar mission would remain open.

His comments come despite reports that scientist Mikhail Marov, reportedly a key consultant on the mission, died from poisoning just weeks after the failed moon landing.

Not the first time

The Putin-run space station wouldn’t be the first time Russia has assembled such a facility in Earth’s orbit.

Operated by the Soviet Union and later Russia, Mir was the first modular space station, which was in orbit from 1986 to 2001.

Mir, which is Russian for ‘peace’ or ‘world’, took 10 years to build in low Earth orbit.

It was the first continuously inhabited long-term research station in orbit.

At the time, it was the largest artificial satellite in orbit and was eventually succeeded by the ISS once Mir’s orbit decayed.

The Russian-owned station also held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at 3,644 days.

That was until that figure was surpassed by the ISS on 23 October 2010.