The future of the International Space Station, a symbol of post-Cold War cooperation where astronauts and cosmonauts live and work side-by-side, has been thrown into question by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The outpost was the subject of a menacing Twitter thread by Russian space agency head, who warned Thursday that US sanctions could destroy our cooperation and that the research platform would plummet to the Earth without his nation's help.
The two sides rely on one another for the safety of their personnel, so experts think such threats are inflated. It could cause a divorce in their marriage.
John Logsdon, a professor and space analyst at George Washington University, told Agence France-Presse that nobody wants to put the lives of astronauts and cosmonauts in danger.
It was a conscious decision when Russia joined the station partnership in 1994 to make it an interdependent one.
The US Orbital segment and the Russian Orbital segment are part of the International Space Station.
The US segment of the International Space Station is responsible for electricity and life support systems, while the Russian segment is responsible for maintaining its position.
Shortly after US President Joe Biden announced sanctions against Russia, Rogozin posted a series of hostile messages.
If you block cooperation with us, who will save the International Space Station from falling on US or European territory?
NASA, for its part, responded with a bland statement emphasizing it and continuing to work with all of its international partners.
Julie Patarin-Jossec, a French academic and author of a book on the International Space Station, said that Rogozin is a political figure who is known to be very loyal to power and has a history of making fiery statements.
Russia's Pyotr Dubrov, the United States' Raja Chari, and the Germany's Matthias Maurer are on the station.
Most astronauts of the last decades or who have had experience with the International Space Station are attached to international cooperation.
If Russia withdraws from the program, it will leave Russia without a crewed space program, unless it quickly pivots to working with China aboard the Tiangong space station, which is still under construction and currently hosts three crew members.
US-Russian cooperation has a long history that stretches back to the height of the Cold War, but it hasn't been without its ups and downs.
After America placed the first men on the Moon in 1969 then-president Richard Nixon looked for opportunities to make the space program more cooperative, inviting allies to join the Space Shuttle program.
He and Henry Kissinger decided to use a joint US-Soviet mission as a symbol of detente.
The landmark Apollo-Soyuz mission took place in 1975, when US and Russian craft docked for the first time in a globally televised event.
The partnership was supposed to expand even further, with possible Space Shuttle missions to an early Russian space station, but President Jimmy Carter nixed such plans after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The first module of the International Space Station was launched in 1998 after Russian officials reached out to the Clinton administration about a merger.
The most serious tensions since the Cuban missile crisis could mark the beginning of the end for the International Space Station.
The US is already developing the ability to power cargo ships, as noted by Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
NASA wants the station to stay in the air until at least 2030.
The current situation could affect the Russian desire to stay involved or the US desire to keep them involved.
Agence France-Presse
All Rights Reserved © 2024
