Russia to go it alone in space

MOSCOW: Russia is ready to start building its own space station with the aim of launching it into orbit by 2030 if President Vladimir Putin gives the goahead, the head of its Roscosmos space agency said yesterday.

The project would mark an end to more than two decades of close cooperation with the United States aboard the ageing International Space Station (ISS).

‘‘If in 2030, in accordance with our plans, we can put it into orbit, it will be a colossal breakthrough,’’ Interfax news agency quoted Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin as saying.

Russian cosmonauts have worked with counterparts from the US and 16 other countries on the ISS since 1998.

Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told Russian television at the weekend Moscow would give notice to its partners that it would leave the ISS project from 2025.

He said Russia was ready to consider allowing foreign crews to visit its proposed station, ‘‘but the station must be national . . . If you want to do well, do it yourself’’.

PHOTO: REUTERS People attend a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in St Petersburg, yesterday. The placard reads ‘‘Freedom to Navalny’’.