Russia is ready to involve other countries in the project to create a new space station, but is ready to finance it on its own, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said on Monday.
“We will definitely take them, but we will cope [with financing] on our own”, Borisov told the Rossiya 1 broadcaster, answering whether Russia was ready to take other countries into the project.
The new Russian space station will become a transit hub on the way to the moon, Borisov said.
“This is one of the new functions, and it is being considered very seriously. The station is like a kind of transit hub, intermediate, in particular, for flights and the exploration of the Moon”, he said.
The state of the structures of the International Space Station (ISS) can lead to disaster, you cannot risk lives, the deputy prime minister said.
“Situations that are today associated with the aging of structures, iron, can lead to irreversible consequences, to a catastrophe. This must not be allowed”, he said.
Earlier, Borisov announced the need to warn the ISS partners about Russia’s withdrawal from the project after 2025. He also spoke about plans to create a national space station by Russia. In addition, he announced plans for manned flights to the Moon and a mission to Mars using a nuclear tug.
