>> this is al jazeera and these are the headlines. hundreds of protesters who stormed iraq's parliament have now left. the supporters of the shia cleric were demonstrating against the nomination of a new prime minister. the u.s. federal reserve is increasing its key interest rate by 0.75 percentage points to 2.5%. the u.s. central bank has been raising borrowing costs since march to try and rein in rising inflation.

u.s. secretary of state antony blinken says a substantial offer will be made to secure the release of basketball player brittney griner and former u.s. marine paul whelan. they are both currently detained in russia. he says he will speak to his russian counterpart sergey lavrov in the coming days. >> i plan to raise a top priority for us. the release of americans paul whelan and brittney griner, who have been wrongfully attained and must be allowed to come home. we put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release. our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal. i will follow-up personally and i hope move us towards a resolution. >> the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov was in ethiopia for the second leg of his tour. he is aiming to reassure nations hit hard by the global grain shortage. millions across africa have been left without adequate access to food because of soaring prices.

nasa has announced that russia is sticking with the international space station for now could according to the u.s. space agency, moscow told nasa wednesday that they will remain partners on the iss for the next six years. that though comes just one day after the head of russia's space agency had said they would pull out by 2024. opposition parties in tunisia say the results of monday's constitutional referendum are inflated and illegitimate. the electoral commission says most tunisians approved a new constitution which gives far-reaching powers to the president. 95% of voters back to the reforms, but less than one third of tunisians took part. the president says it is the beginning of a new chapter. those are the headlines. i will have more for you here after inside story. do stay with us. ♪

>> it is seen as the final frontier of global cooperation after the cold war. but russia has decided to pull out of the international space station. is it even possible, and what will be the impact on future space exploration and research? this is "inside story." hello. welcome to the program. i am bernard smith. the international space station has been a symbol of cooperation between cold war and space rivals for more than 20 years.

american astronauts and russian cosmonauts collaborated despite the challenges of their nation's relationship here on earth. even the iss could not escape the tensions created by the war in ukraine. russia says it will withdraw from the program after 2024 and launch its own similar space station. nasa called the announcement a surprise but it is unclear how moscow can untangle itself from the project. it also involves astronauts from canada, europe, and japan working closely together. we will bring in our guests in a moment. first, this report. reporter: the future of this beacon of international cooperation may be in doubt. when they were in ukraine prompted the west to sever nearly all ties with russia, the international space station was one of the few exceptions. now, after more than 20 years of partnership, russia says it is pulling out. >> of course we will fulfill all

of our obligations to our partners. the decision to leave after 2024 halves been taken. i think that by that time, we will begin to follow russian orbital station. reporter: to many, this move was a surprise. nasa and the russian space agency had only just signed a new agreement to bring astronauts to these patient. in may, the head of the european space agency said that he russia on the iss was technically impossible. both sides are responsible for different technologies on the station, and neither is trained to operate the others without assistance. >> it is going to cause problems. the russian side of things is in charge of several key systems on board the international space station. one of the most key once is the propulsion system. that is what stops it -- it is just about in earth's atmosphere and overtime its orbit degrades and occasionally the orbit has

to get boosted again in the russian segment is responsible for doing that. reporter: since the war in ukraine broke out, even life in space has not gone untouched by the politics of earth. in april, questions were asked about the russian crew's choice of spacesuit, which matched the colors of the ukrainian flag. they denied any hidden messages, but many saw as a protest against russia's war. in july, they made a much clearer political statement. they posed with the flags of two russian-backed breakaway regions in eastern ukraine. >> it is unfortunate that the politics on the ground have reached up into space before the iss was the one common ground we had where it was in everyone's interest that it work and neither side used the iss for these kind of lyrical posturing's for events on the ground. reporter: the iss was first established in 1998. research on the station has led

to breakthroughs in battling cancer, alzheimer's, and heart disease. monitoring natural disasters from space has also helped relief efforts on earth but with russia and china now planning to complete their own space stations in the coming years, a period of space cooperation ip giving way to a new era of space cooperation. bernard: this news caught many by surprise because nasa and russia's space agency had just struck a deal two weeks ago to fly each other's astronauts to the iss. cooperation between russia and the u.s. appeared relatively unharmed by the ukraine war until now. the european space agency had already ended its collaboration with russia's space agency. and moscow has stopped launches of its so he as a spacecraft from a european launch site. let's bring in our guests. in moscow we have a defense and military analyst.

in orlando, florida, amy thompson, a science journalist. and in london, francisco diego. and lecturer at university college london. i'll come to you all. is this political, russia pulling out of the iss? pavel: it is clearly ukraine connected because after the conflict there began, sanctions were imposed. and some of these sanctions are against part of the space cooperation. russia has already said it will continue with cooperation on the space station if the actions have been lifted. they have not been lifted. so that means russia right now is kind of saying ok, we are going to boot the entire project

because right now it is not ringing russia much of any money anymore. but this does not actually mean that this is the end of the issue. i should emphasize that. i think there is of course some time left to, i don't know, 2025, and there's time for some bargaining. so russia would most likely say -- there are actually different ways russia could quit. quit fully, so the station has to go down into the pacific ocean, or kind of continue on a commercial basis to cooperate to some extent, to keep it running. or russia will be demanding some sanctions relief. so, it's not yet a closed issue. bernard: it's not over yet. from the american side, is this viewed as bluster, is there hope it's bluster? amy: russia said they would pull

out after 2024. there was a report that came out talking to one of their lead flight directors that was discussing their version of the space station, that the first pieces would launch around 2028. from nasa's standpoint, nasa has said it would like to operate the space station until 2030. but it's also at the same time preparing some commercial partners to launch mini-space stations. axiom has one, blue origin has an orbital reef that they want to launch. so this notion of having multiple stations is probably something that is going to be happening around the same time that russia wants to do their own. so, i definitely think that there is room for negotiation. bernard: we will touch on the commercial operators in space a little later. francisco, what would it mean to the iss, to the practical operation of it, if russia did

withdraw? francisco: i think it will be very difficult. you cannot divide the national space station that easy. the russian module is, as we saw in your introduction, is responsible for the movement of the space station, for keeping it in orbit, and it has the power to do that, and that is controlled from moscow, i understand. so how these things will be sorted out will be very difficult to imagine. and i hope that these negotiations are going to take some kind of more constructive approach. bernard: help us understand practically how the two segments of the station are interdependent on each other and rely on the americans and the russians operating? amy: as stated, the russian side provides propulsion, so it essentially keeps the iss in orbit. currently there is not a u.s.

vehicle that is capable of doing that, but i am sure that that is something that nasa and its partners are thinking about, especially after the announcement yesterday. and then the u.s. side provides power, it has the solar panels. so they work together. you cannot have one side without the other side. bernard: who is holding all the cards? if you say there might be potential for negotiation, who needs this more, the americans or the russians? pavel: they both knew the station, thou -- need the station, although russian interest has waned a bit. for quite a long time, since the shuttles started to fly, russia has a monopoly to bring astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station. so russia was earning a lot of money, hundreds of millions of dollars a year. i mean, one trip for one person was up to $70 million.

so that was bringing a lot of cash. that has right now ended. that will be in exchange for russians flying on american ships. so it stopped to be a money cow, the space station. now they say, oh, they are not much interested in continuing to maintain this aging station. so they maybe believe that they have -- that the americans need it more, so russia can wager for that and get something in return for keeping it flying for five years. bernard: there is an operational importance to having integrated crews on board, i understand. they have this crew swap agreement where american crews

can fly in on russian rockets, russians can fly in on spacex. what is the importance of having these integrated crews on the iss? francisco: it is very important. it is a very basic principle on the international space station. it is very sad that this is happening. i would like to see more cooperation and i would like to see space exploration, less competition, more cooperation. this is not the way to go into space. this is not the way we have explored our own planet. look at the state of the planet now. you want to do the same in space? i think we have this opportunity, this challenge now to really reset our mindset by resetting and put more collaboration, more peaceful collaboration and explore the moon not as a single country or company. i hope we can achieve that. bernard: there's symbolic

importance of integrated crews as well as practical. what already -- what are the practical ways? amy: you have each program with something different they work on as far as science and other things like that. so they bring that into them by having crews. it's just really, like he said, it's symbolic. this is what we want to see, we want to see cooperation. because the space station is literally the crown jewel of humanity. this is what happens when everyone works together and we are all capable of achieving great things. we need this cooperation. bernard: pavel, you have been suggesting a lot of this has come down to dollars in the end. cash. could the russians build their own space station, as has be interneten -- has been hinted at?

pavel: it would take time. the station that is being planned right now would be very different from the present space station. it would be flying higher, different orbit, much higher. that means it won't have a permanent crew. the crews will be visiting, so it will be much smaller with visiting crews. it won't be like the present orbital space station, which is an enormous 500 tons of metal and equipment flying there. such a thing will likely never appear anytime soon in orbit around earth. bernard: are there alternative partners for nasa or the americans? the europeans maybe, or is it the russians or no one? amy: there are 15 different international partners. russia is one of them. so when they pull out, there are

still 14 other countries including the u.s. that work together to make the international space station. so, nasa would probably lean on those partners a little bit more. if russia pulled out. bernard: the station is due to retire in 2031. what happens to it then? francisco: well, it will leave orbit and land somewhere in the pacific ocean. so will the hubble space telescope at some point as well. that's what happens. when you are in low earth orbit, you just reduce the speed and just bring it down. we must remember also that china is completing their own space station this year, and that's another component here, another country that was not allowed to join the international space station. they went their own way and are building their own -- in record time -- their own space station

as well. so i hope that all of these collaborations bring us more close together, because space exploration is very forgiving. it's extremely dangerous. you need international collaboration to deal with emergencies, to deal with enormous challenges. it would be good to have the expertise from different scientific and technological groups working together. bernard: i wanted to move on to china, actually. could russia realistically move on to cooperate more with china's space program? china is supposed to be ahead of russia now, technologically, in space. pavel: actually, clearly ahead in finances. so, they are building it swiftly. they have more money to spend. technologically, more likely russia and china are more or less on par. maybe in rocket technology,

pressure is, if -- russia is, if not ahead, then has some headway. cooperation in space between russia and china has been a lot talked about in recent years. it's not really that easy to happen. the chinese have their own space station. it will not be really compatible with the russian one. but there can be kind of visits of chinese going onto the russian station, of russians going onto the chinese station. i think that is possible. that would be symbolic. but i don't think that the two countries are going to actually merge, or build a joint project like the international space station, which appeared in the years after the end of the cold war when it seemed that conflict and war in europe would be

totally impossible. well, now we've in a very different age, and cooperation in space is going to be limited between countries that are actually seen as each other's enemies. bernard: as francisco has mentioned repeatedly, the importance of cooperation and's page -- in space. would the americans view the chinese more as competitors in space rather than potential cooperation partners? amy: yes. they have historically been kept separate from everything, whereas nasa worked very closely with russia. china has always been on the outside. and i think there may have been one analog astronaut mission that had a tie cannot, but other than that they just do not work together. so that would be interesting to see what happens in terms of that. i believe they launched their second module to the space

station. they are moving very rapidly with that. bernard: you know how china's space program compares to that of russia? they have launched another rocket recently to the -- to build the tiangong space station. francisco: the chinese space program came a little bit late. we must remember that the first successful missions to space were from the soviet union and the first satellite, the first space walk, the first woman in space, etc. so what comes from the 1950's and 1960's. the chinese came only recently, very successfully, launching very successful missions to the moon, to mars, where they had a successful landing on mars, on the backside of the moon as well. so now building their own space station. but they are a bit behind in time, but i think they are making very good progress.

i think we should aim the future for more collaboration. i have to repeat myself again and again. bernard: you say china is late to the space race, but is it catching up technologically with the u.s.? is that a concern for the u.s.? i know you keep mentioning cooperation, but there is not much cooperation between these two superpowers. francisco: not at the moment of course. china has less experience if you like, but if you see the interior of the new space station of china, it is quite remarkable. it is very tidy and well organized. you see technology is very well thought out and very well designed. so i think technologically, i don't know. i cannot put a mark in which

knowledge is more advanced, but certainly experience comes on the side of russia and certainly nasa. bernard: is space exploration an enterprise that still needs state backing? we mentioned earlier axiom, spacex, blue origin, virgin galactic, more being launched into orbit to visit the space station. will this be taken over by private billionaires, or do we need still state contributions? amy: we will still needs state contributions. spacex gets money from nasa for the seats for the astronauts and for other programs. so, as nasa is looking to go back to the moon, it is partnering with a lot of these companies. and there is money involved for them. but nasa's plan is to push out further into the solar system. so they are wanting to help these countries set up in orbit

so there can be a lot of activity going on and then nasa can divert a lot of its resources towards deep space. but it will still be a partner, a customer for these companies. bernard: does cosmos see still prestige in space exploration, or does money matter more to the russians now? could they profit from this desire for private space exploration? pavel: private companies like spacex, they were competing with russia. in space launches and commercial space launches, not only in the iss. and that is seen is actually the price of putting payloads into orbit has decreased and russia has seen itself be pushed out of the commercial market and they

are losing money cows that they were getting because the russian budget of course is much smaller than the chinese or the americans. he was very much after the end of the cold war, surviving from earning money. now they have lost a lot of that capability. so right now they are talking that their main priority is supporting the russian forces on the ground in ukraine, sending more military satellites into orbit, increasing the number of military satellites, communications, recon. so right now they are kind of more militarizing, because their commercial part is not really competable with new commercial ones on the market.

bernard: how do you view the growing market of private individuals in space exploration? is it to be welcomed or something that could be done much more with state institutions? francisco: it is a bit of a mixed idea here. of course it is welcome. it is welcome to have more experience. but at the same time, it has to be regulated. you cannot have this anarchy. you cannot have people doing it just because you have the money to do it. it is not possible. we have the very good example, the antarctic treaty. it has a variety of countries collaborating on the very strict regulations, and in that we also have a space treaty from the united nations. it has not been implemented or enforced properly. but all these partners and contributors, remember, we have other countries as well. we have india as well, the uae, all these countries that are

sending spacecraft to mars. they have to be properly regulated. otherwise it is going to be anarchy. i call again for international cooperation, properly regular did. bernard: we have run out of time. pavel felgenhauer, amy thompson, and francisco diego, thank you very much for your contributions. and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting aljazeera.com. for more debate, go to our facebook page, facebook.com/ajinsidestory. you can also join the conversation on twitter @ajinsidestory. for me and the entire team here in doha, bye for now. ♪

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