Russia is losing its last superiority in space
Exactly twenty years ago, the first module of the ISS Zarya was launched into orbit, which is considered the birthday of the orbital station. Today, space agencies of many states are actively participating in its work, its crew is international in the best traditions of international cooperation.
Russia is one of the main scientific and technical pillars of this project, traditionally fulfilling the function of a space “taxi driver”. But recently, hostile winds have blown over the ISS and Roscosmos. Does the International Space Station have a future in a rapidly changing world? Let us turn to the experience of the past.
Today's orbital stations are a product of many years of rivalry between the USA and the USSR. And it should be noted that it was our country that set the tone in it. The fate of the American station in the framework of the Orbital Workshop project was inglorious. Formally, their Skylab lasted 6 years, launched into orbit in 1973. But she really worked only 170 days, taking only 3 scientific expeditions and one repair. The very next year, it went into automatic mode and in 1979 burned out in the atmosphere.
Soviet stations were much more efficient. By the way, Salyut-7 was in orbit until 1991. In the USSR, there were several projects of long-term orbital stations. After the approval of the Politburo on February 20, 1986, the first module was launched into orbit, and the famous Mir station was born. The United States reacted with considerable delay to the Freedom project, but was found to be too expensive, and its budget underwent a serious sequestration. Meanwhile, Mir continued to be built and successfully operated for a decade and a half.
His future called into question the collapse of the USSR. The Kremlin was not up to space, and the station was transferred to the balance of RSC Energia. The result of the transfer of the project to self-financing was the beginning of cooperation with the Americans in the framework of the Mir - Shuttle and Mir - NASA programs. The first cosmonaut from the United States appeared at the Russian station in 1995. An interesting fact, Sergey Krikalev became both a Hero of the USSR and a Hero of Russia: he flew to the Mir from the Soviet Union in 1991, and returned to the Yeltsin Russian Federation in 1992.
The order to flood the Mir station was given by President Vladimir Putin in 2001. It is believed that the cause was frequent accidents and obsolescence of the station. But critics of the decision indicate that the breakdowns began only after the American astronauts began to regularly come on board, and the modular design of Mira made it possible to repair and modernize it, however, by a government decree in 1998, the orbital station was removed from budget financing .
The result was the deprivation of Russia’s own "gate to space", substituted for participation in the international project of the ISS. And Roscosmos was assigned the role of a “space cab”. It is interesting how this all resonates with the plans of the US Space Command declared in 1993 until 2020:
What do we have in the end today?
The United States of America, together with its allies, is building a more promising, in their opinion, near-moon orbital station Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway. The ISS project is directly called unpromising by the Americans. Holes are detected in the skin at the International Station. Due to the accident during the take-off of the Soyuz, the future of Russia even as a “space taxi driver” is being called into question.
American companies are actively developing modern spacecraft to deliver astronauts to orbital stations. Russian space officials are considering options for the autonomy of the ISS domestic segment, but at the same time they are constantly breaking the deadlines for connecting the long-planned modules to it. The budget of Roscosmos is seriously sequestered.
Will the ISS eventually suffer under different pretexts the same fate as the Mir station at one time?
Russia is one of the main scientific and technical pillars of this project, traditionally fulfilling the function of a space “taxi driver”. But recently, hostile winds have blown over the ISS and Roscosmos. Does the International Space Station have a future in a rapidly changing world? Let us turn to the experience of the past.
Today's orbital stations are a product of many years of rivalry between the USA and the USSR. And it should be noted that it was our country that set the tone in it. The fate of the American station in the framework of the Orbital Workshop project was inglorious. Formally, their Skylab lasted 6 years, launched into orbit in 1973. But she really worked only 170 days, taking only 3 scientific expeditions and one repair. The very next year, it went into automatic mode and in 1979 burned out in the atmosphere.
Soviet stations were much more efficient. By the way, Salyut-7 was in orbit until 1991. In the USSR, there were several projects of long-term orbital stations. After the approval of the Politburo on February 20, 1986, the first module was launched into orbit, and the famous Mir station was born. The United States reacted with considerable delay to the Freedom project, but was found to be too expensive, and its budget underwent a serious sequestration. Meanwhile, Mir continued to be built and successfully operated for a decade and a half.
His future called into question the collapse of the USSR. The Kremlin was not up to space, and the station was transferred to the balance of RSC Energia. The result of the transfer of the project to self-financing was the beginning of cooperation with the Americans in the framework of the Mir - Shuttle and Mir - NASA programs. The first cosmonaut from the United States appeared at the Russian station in 1995. An interesting fact, Sergey Krikalev became both a Hero of the USSR and a Hero of Russia: he flew to the Mir from the Soviet Union in 1991, and returned to the Yeltsin Russian Federation in 1992.
The order to flood the Mir station was given by President Vladimir Putin in 2001. It is believed that the cause was frequent accidents and obsolescence of the station. But critics of the decision indicate that the breakdowns began only after the American astronauts began to regularly come on board, and the modular design of Mira made it possible to repair and modernize it, however, by a government decree in 1998, the orbital station was removed from budget financing .
The result was the deprivation of Russia’s own "gate to space", substituted for participation in the international project of the ISS. And Roscosmos was assigned the role of a “space cab”. It is interesting how this all resonates with the plans of the US Space Command declared in 1993 until 2020:
Providing the United States and its allies with free access to space and full-scale actions in it, while prohibiting the enemy from solving such problems.
What do we have in the end today?
The United States of America, together with its allies, is building a more promising, in their opinion, near-moon orbital station Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway. The ISS project is directly called unpromising by the Americans. Holes are detected in the skin at the International Station. Due to the accident during the take-off of the Soyuz, the future of Russia even as a “space taxi driver” is being called into question.
American companies are actively developing modern spacecraft to deliver astronauts to orbital stations. Russian space officials are considering options for the autonomy of the ISS domestic segment, but at the same time they are constantly breaking the deadlines for connecting the long-planned modules to it. The budget of Roscosmos is seriously sequestered.
Will the ISS eventually suffer under different pretexts the same fate as the Mir station at one time?
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