Russia and U.S. Agree to Extend ISS Operations Through 2030

Russia and the United States have agreed to extend joint operations of the International Space Station (ISS) through 2030, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov announced Tuesday evening. NASA had previously assessed that the ISS could safely function through 2030, despite Bakanov having stated as recently as last August that he and U.S. officials had agreed to run the station only until 2028.

Established in 1998, the ISS’s original operational lifespan was targeted to end in 2024. The latest extension came shortly after a Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS. The spacecraft, which launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan earlier on Tuesday, carried Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina alongside NASA astronaut Anil Menon.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who traveled to Baikonur to observe the launch, said that the ISS extension talks also touched on developing shared technical standards that both Russia and the United States could eventually apply to their own future space stations. The office of Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, who also met with Isaacman at Baikonur, said that Russia and the United States have worked out a joint program to wind down the station’s flights in late 2030.

While the ISS has long served as a rare symbol of U.S.-Russian cooperation amid mounting geopolitical tensions, relations between NASA and Roscosmos have become strained recently over air leaks aboard the aging station. NASA had told its astronauts on the ISS last month to prepare for a possible emergency evacuation during a disagreement with Roscosmos over how to patch one of the leaks.