Accessibility links

Breaking News

Russian Space Chief Casts Doubt On Joint Lunar Space Station With U.S.


Dmitry Rogozin
Dmitry Rogozin

Russia's space chief has cast doubt on cooperation with the United States to build a joint space station orbiting the moon, though the agency he leads scrambled to clarify that Moscow has not abandoned the plan.

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying on September 22 that Moscow "can’t allow itself to play second fiddle" to the United States in the planned construction of the moon-orbiting Deep-Space Gateway.

"We will build our own transport system," Rogozin added while speaking to young space engineers, according to Russian news agencies.

Hours later, however, a spokesman for Roskosmos said that Russia is still in the project.

"Russia has not abandoned the project to build a lunar orbital station jointly with the United States," Vladimir Ustimenko was quoted by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency as saying. "That's not true."

The U.S. space agency NASA and Roskosmos last year announced the new collaboration on the space station, which would serve as a staging post for future space missions.

The announcement was a rare glimpse of bilateral cooperation amid bitter tensions in the wake of Russian interference in Ukraine and what Washington calls an extensive effort by Moscow to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

With reporting by AP and Reuters
  • 16x9 Image

    RFE/RL

    RFE/RL journalists report the news in 27 languages in 23 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established. We provide what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate.

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

To find out more, click here.

XS
SM
MD
LG