On Tuesday, July 26th, Russia announced its plans to withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024, ending a partnership with NASA that has lasted decades.

Yuri Borisov, the newly appointed Director General of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, told Russian President Vladimir Putin that they will fill all obligations to their partners at the ISS, but that the decision to leave after 2024 has been made. Roscosmos will instead focus on building its own orbital station. 

Russian officials have been discussing leaving the project since at least 2021 due to ageing equipment and growing safety concerns, according to the Washington Post. However, the widening rift between Washington and Moscow over the Russian invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the withdrawal. The previous head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that Russian involvement after 2024 would be possible only if the U.S. lifted sanctions against the Russian space industry and other sectors.

According to a statement from NASA administrator Bill Nelson, “NASA is committed to the safe operation of the International Space Station through 2030, and is coordinating with our partners.” NASA has not yet been made aware of the decisions from their Russian partners, but Nelson confirmed that the organisation is continuing to expand its capabilities to ensure the United States’ presence in low-Earth orbit. 

The ISS is a collaboration between the US, Russia, Japan, Canada, and the European Space Agency. The station is divided into two sections – the Russian Orbital Segment and the U.S. Orbital Segment. 

The Biden administration announced that it was committed to extending the ISS from 2024 to 2030. However, Russia never signed on to the extension agreement. Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman told CNN that the Russian segment cannot function properly without electricity from the American side, while the American side cannot function without the propulsion systems from the Russian side.

NASA has been exploring new ways of moving the ISS without Russian assistance, though questions on whether the space station would be able to survive without the Russians is still unclear. 

The news of Russia’s withdrawal from the ISS comes just days after NASA and Roscosmos announced their crew-exchange deal that had been under negotiation for more than four years. In September, two Russian cosmonauts will launch from Florida in U.S. spacecraft  while two American astronauts will take Russian rockets into space. It is uncertain whether the exchange will continue after Borisov announced the withdrawal.

The ISS, launched in 1998, has been a staple and symbol of international and scientific cooperation between Russia and the US in era after the Cold War, even as relations on the ground soured. The withdrawal will spawn new stations in the coming decades as NASA works more with private space companies, according to CNN. 

Robyn Gatens, NASA’s director of the ISS, said at a recent conference that NASA wanted to continue the partnership to operate the space station. “I think the Russians, just like us, are thinking ahead to what’s next for them. And as we’re planning for a transition after 2030 to commercially owned and operated space stations in low Earth orbit […] they’re thinking about a transition as well.”