The planned Russian Orbital Service Station will acquire a military focus if hostility toward the country persists, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin said on Sputnik radio on Monday.

"If, by the time our orbital station is deployed, we continue to live in this hostile world and the number of allies will be limited, then we will make it an applied- military station," he said.

That means, Rogozin explained, that only Russian cosmonauts will be stationed at the space outpost to serve the equipment. If the current hostile sentiment goes away, "probably, it will again be possible to think about an international context."

The Roscosmos head said that a national station needs to be created anyway. "It is necessary to make it as simple as possible, to make sure that cosmonauts don’t spend years flying there, but come in, complete the task and return," he said. "That will be much cheaper."

In April 2021, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said that the state of the ISS leaves much to be desired, so Russia could focus on creating its own orbital station. The Energia Rocket and Space Corporation was tasked with building the first module for the new orbital station - a research and energy module - by the end of 2025. It was previously planned to send this module to the ISS in 2024.

The scientific and technical council of Roscosmos recommended that work on the technical design for the new orbital station be included in the Federal Space Program - 2025.

Quelle: TASS