- Russia’s obligation to participate in the ISS program ends at the end of 2025.
- In April, 2021, Russian Prsident approved plans for new Russian Orbital Service Station.
- Russian space chief suggest creation a separate space station module for tourists.
Russian space agency officials have suggested constructing a special module for tourists on the proposed Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS), a Moscow-funded replacement for the aging International Space Station (ISS).
According to the head of the Russian State Space Corporation (Roscosmos) Dmitry Rogozin, the Roscosmos Scientific and Technical Council discussed the ROSS creation at its meeting on July 31.
“I suggested that the project should include the creation of a separate module for visitors,” the Roscosmos chief said.
With Russia’s obligations to participate in the ISS program coming to an end in 2025, there has long been speculation about the future of the planet’s only inhabited space station.
Roscosmos will not engage in suborbital flights, Russian space official said, but Russian space agency will get involved in developing space tourism as part of the orbital piloted program.
In April, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the plans for new Russian Orbital Service Station, signing off on a proposal for a space station with three to seven modules.
If the decision is made to include a segment purely for tourists, it will continue a tradition of Russia’s participation in space tourism. In 2001, American engineer Dennis Tito became the first space tourist to fund his own trip into space, arriving in the Russian Soyuz TM-32 rocket.
