Since 2009 there have typically been six people living aboard the International Space Station (ISS) – a floating laboratory 250 miles above the Earth’s surface and a symbol of international cooperation.
While Russia has provided half the crew and Nasa and its international partners the remaining three astronauts, this may be about to change.
Russia is said to be thinking about reducing the number of cosmonauts aboard the ISS at any one time, in what’s believed to be a cost-cutting exercise.
According to Russian newspaper, Izvestia, Sergei Krikalev, the director of humans for Roscosmos, said the move would reduce the financial burden for the nation because fewer cosmonauts would mean less deliveries of costly provisions needed to the Russian side of the ISS.
Roscosmos has suffered budget cuts of 60 per cent and was recently given a 10 year budget of around $20.5 billion (£15.8bn), which is little more than Nasa’s annual budget, The Planetary Society said in a blog post.
The Russian space agency already spends less on maintaining the vast space lab than Nasa, with the Russian media reporting the country plans to splash $4.1bn (£3.1bn) from 2016 to 2025 on maintenance.
While this may sound like a lot, it’s not much more than the Nasa’s annual repairs and transport bill, according to Ars Technica.
The cost could also rise, because Nasa plans on flying its crew members to the ISS in craft built by Boeing and SpaceX in years to come, meaning they will no longer have pay Roscosmos for Souez seats, leaving Russia without an extra source of income to boost its space budget.
Nasa told Ars Technica that Russia is considering reducing its ISS crew to just two members.
The space agency told Wired: "Roscosmos has joined Nasa and other ISS partners in extending support for the orbiting laboratory to at least 2024, and the current level of research of both Nasa and the international partners on ISS is at an all-time high.
"Nasa is committed to a robust, vibrant presence in low-Earth orbit and the research being done benefits us all."
Since the turn of the millennium, the ISS has been occupied by a rotating crew of astronauts and cosmonauts who typically spend six months aboard.
Kenneth Todd, Nasa’s ISS operations integration manager, told a press conference: "They're [Roscosmos is] exploring the option of going down to two crew on the Russian segment."
"We'll look at it as we do with all these kind of things — we'll trade it against whatever risk that might put into the program, first and foremost the risk to our crew onboard, and the station itself."
Todd explained Nasa and its partners will then look at options to accommodate the proposal or try to persuade Roscosmos not to make the change, The Planetary Society reported.
"At this point, it’s strictly a proposal that they put on the table and we'll look at it," he added.
However, the possible reduced support from Roscosmos will have many experts wondering about the fate of the ISS.
It’s thought Nasa will continue to send three astronauts – one usually being a crew member from the European Space Agency, Canada or Japan – to the ISS.
While Nasa has previously said it plans to send astronauts to the space lab until 2028, there’s a possibility Russia could pull out at least four years before then, and may even build its own space station.
The first section of the ISS was launched in 1998 and now the ISS is composed of 15 modules costing around $100bn.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
