NASA Believes International Space Station Can Work Without Russia

Last week, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced at a press conference that Russia would no longer participate with the United States on the International Space Station past 2020. NASA doesn't seem to care that much.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told reporters that no single partner could terminate the ongoing project that is the International Space Station, in response to Rogozin's comments following the United States' sanctions issued against Russia. The U.S. will still have the help of Japan, Europe, and Canada as the operations continue through 2024.

This means the U.S. must adapt and find a way to transport astronauts to the ISS (since Russia currently does) and they also supply the United States with rocket engines to conduct other missions and launches. Bolden cleared the air on that subject on Monday and told reporters that private companies will start taking astronauts to the ISS by 2017.

SpaceX might be one of those private companies. They already conduct resupply missions to the ISS for NASA and they're expected to earn certification in 2015 for transporting humans via their Dragon spacecraft. Founder and CEO Elon Musk believes that his company will be granted the right to do so by 2017, which was somewhat foreshadowed by Mr. Bolden.

Following their announcement that they will no longer participate in International Space Station operations, Russia then went ahead on Monday and signed an agreement with the Chinese National Space Agency to conduct more missions and increase cooperation. Pavel Luzin, a researcher at the Russian Academy of Science's Institute for World Economy and International Relations, is skeptical of the recent agreement.

"In particular, the Chinese manned space program - spacecraft, spacesuits, etc. - is largely built on borrowed Soviet and Russian technology," he said in this Moscow Times article. "Such cooperation should not be exaggerated."

Russia currently lacks a long-term vision for their space operations and China needs Russia only for technologies that they have yet to develop. Nonetheless, China and Russia will improve their cooperation with one another as Mr. Rogozin says Russia will "focus on other projects" after 2020, so perhaps future plans are in place.

Despite all of this, the United States plans to keep the ISS open until 2024 and they will shortly determine a way to transport astronauts to and from the base.