The United States on Tuesday voiced regret over Russia's announcement that it would exit the International Space Station after 2024 and said it was taken by surprise.
"It's an unfortunate development given the critical
scientific work performed at the ISS, the valuable professional collaboration
our space agencies have had over the years, and especially in light of our
renewed agreement on space-flight cooperation," State Department spokesman
Ned Price said.
"I understand that we were taken by surprise by the
public statement," he told reporters.
NASA's director of the ISS, Robyn Gatens, earlier said that
the US space agency had not "received any official word from the partner
as to the news today."
NASA itself plans to retire the ISS - a symbol of post-Cold
War unity - after 2030 as it transitions to working with commercial space
stations, and Gatens suggested Russia might be thinking about its own
transition.
Asked whether she wanted the US-Russia space relationship to
end, she replied: "No, absolutely not."
"They have been good partners, as all of our partners
are, and we want to continue together, as a partnership, to continue operating
space station through the decade."
Gatens was responding to an announcement by newly appointed
Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov.
"Of course, we will fulfill all our obligations to our
partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been
made," Borisov told Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I think that by this time we will start putting
together a Russian orbital station," Borisov added, calling it the space
program's main "priority."
"Good," Putin replied in comments released by the
Kremlin.
Until now, space exploration was one of the few areas where
cooperation between Russia and the United States and its allies had not been
wrecked by tensions over Ukraine and elsewhere.