Russia, US to Discuss Lunar Gateway Station ‘Closer to Spring’ – Head of Roscosmos

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia and the United States will have their next meeting, where Russia’s participation in Lunar Gateway Station will be discussed, “closer to spring,” the head of space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said.

“[It will happen] closer to the spring, I think. We looked at all the pros and cons based on the interest in maintaining station and its non-stop work,” Rogozin said, when asked about possible talks between NASA and Roscosmos.

In 2017, Roscosmos and NASA signed an agreement on setting up a lunar orbit station together. However, Russia later decided to drop out as its role in the project was not a very big one — it would have been responsible for life support systems and an airlock module. NASA then mentioned that Russia might be tasked with building a spacecraft to bring cosmonauts and astronauts to the station.

In addition, the US was more interested in Lunar orbit while Russia would like to study the satellite’s surface. For a long time, Russia’s participation remained undecided until Rogozin said in late December that Roscosmos was ready to take part in the talks with NASA.

Sourse: sputniknews.com