Russian space official predicts 'avalanche' of technical failures on the International Space Station after 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) meets with Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, July 26, 2022.

Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

• Russia's top space official says the country will leave the International Space Station after 2024.
• The Russian sections of the ISS will have an "avalanche" of technical failures around that time, he said.
• The ISS already has age-related malfunctions, and Russia wants to build a new station for itself.

The director of Russia's space program has warned that chaos in the cosmos awaits when Russia leaves the International Space Station after 2024.

That's when Roscosmos director Yuri Borisov expects an "avalanche" of technical failures aboard the ISS due to its aging hardware, according to a statement published on the website of Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, on Friday.

"If we talk about the timing of the termination of Russia's participation in the ISS project, we announced that we intend to do this not from 2024, but after 2024," Borisov said, according to a Google translation of his statement. "Based on the opinion of our strength engineers, reliability specialists, who predict that after 2024, avalanche-like processes are possible due to the failure of various equipment in the ISS modules."

Mark Vande Hei (background) and Pyotr Dubrov train on a computer aboard the International Space Station, December 28, 2021.

Roscosmos/NASA

Borisov added that Russia could exit the ISS in the middle of 2024, when the nation's commitment on the station expires, or even closer to 2025.

NASA expects to continue operating the ISS through 2030, despite technical issues accelerating in recent years.

Cracks have appeared on Russia's segment of the station. In 2020, a toilet on the segment went bust, temperatures mysteriously increased, and an oxygen-supply system broke down. In September 2019, the Zvezda module, which provides living quarters for the cosmonauts, started leaking air.

The International Space Station, as pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a flyaround on November 8, 2021.

NASA

With such problems accelerating, Borisov said it would be more economical for Russia to invest in building a new station.

"Today, the time that our cosmonauts, including American astronauts, spend on searching for possible malfunctions and eliminating them, begins to exceed all reasonable limits," Borisov added. "This is done at the expense of scientific research. When you spend time on recovery, it does not remain for scientific programs," he said.

After facing global sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, in early 2022, Russia announced that it would stop selling rocket engines to the US. It has also halted scientific collaboration with Germany onboard the ISS.

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