ISS to continue to operate even if Russia commissions its space station - RAS Space Research Institute

MOSCOW. Oct 4 (Interfax) - The International Space Station (ISS) is being constantly modernized, and its potential allows for further operation even if Russia commissions a national space station, leading research fellow of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Space Research Institute Natan Eismont said.

"There are fears that the ISS has spent its potential and should be discarded, sunk. Such talk slightly overstates the exhaustion of the ISS's potential. Of course, further operation of the ISS is envisaged even if a new station is built," Eismont told reporters on Monday.

The ISS will not stop working, "because the systems on board, which are clearly not what they used to be when the ISS was put into orbit, are being modernized, improved, and adjusted alongside the changes in global technologies in general," he said.

"Today's ISS is much more modern than it was on the day of its creation," Eismont said.