A Russian-made video posted on Telegram a week ago is causing some anxiety about the status of a NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
NASA Watch shared a video on Saturday that shows Mark Vande Hei being left behind on the International Space Station instead of being on a Russian spaceship.
Recent comments by the director-general of the Russian federal space agency are making things worse. After numerous international sanctions were imposed against Russia due to the nation&s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Rogozin has posted a lot of fiery messages about the status of the partnership.
According to a machine translation of his comments, he said that professionals in the space industry are very worried about the sanctions and they don't know where they will go next.
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Some media sources are interpreting the video and comments made by Rogozin to mean that the space agency may leave Vande Hei behind or do something similar on the space station. NASA has reassured the public that the partnership is continuing as usual.
Vande Hei will come home according to plan, according to the man.
Russian gov't-controlled RIA Novosti @rianru posted a video on Telegram made by @Roscosmos where cosmonauts say goodbye to Mark Vande Hei on #ISS, depart, and then the Russian segment detaches from the rest of ISS. @Rogozin is clearly threatening the ISS program. #NASA #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/fj2coK1xR1March 5, 2022
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Vande Hei is on track to break the American record for longest continuous stay in space, which is currently held by Scott Kelly, who spent two years in space. Vande Hei is going to leave the International Space Station in a Soyuz on March 30 with two Russian cosmonauts.
NASA still expects Vande Hei to come down as planned and then fly home to Houston via normal procedures, even though the American agency is seeking operational flexibility in dealing with Russia.
Officials are getting ready for Mark to return, and all of the normal operations are in place for that for us to be able to do that.
NASA personnel and physicians from the United States will be on hand to assist with the long transfer back to Houston when Vande Hei comes down to Earth. Vande Hei's journey of medical recovery will take months since he has been exposed to the microgravity environment.
NASA is already making backups for space station functions. The first operational reboost of the International Space Station is expected to be performed by a United States spaceship.
The Russian government performs reboosts periodically to make sure the complex doesn't get dragged down by Earth's atmosphere. Cygnus may be able to do that job on its own, and the company has offered to provide that service as well.
The Russian and American sides of the space station are related in many ways. Relations between Russia and other space projects with Russian involvement have deteriorated recently, which has led to a lot of blustery messages on the social networking site.
A recent set of barbs exchanged with Kelly, for example, saw him told to "Get off, you moron!" The death of the International Space Station will be on your conscience.
The video of Vande Hei being left behind, which Kelly described as an unlikely scenario, was the reason why he decided to take on Rogozin.
Kelly said he would treat him like a child if he acted like a child. I don't think that will happen.
In late February, another set of Rogozin's tweets made their way around the internet, as he reacted to the sanctions announced by the U.S. President.
Read one of the February 24th, 2012 messages from Rogozin, which is translated from Russian.
If you block cooperation with us, who will save the International Space Station from an unguided deorbit to impact on the territory of the US or Europe? The impact of the 500-ton construction in India or China is possible. Do you want to hurt them?
The space world is famous for creating controversial content. The people responsible for imposing Biden's sanctions may be suffering from Alzheimer's disease, according to a set of tweets.
When Russia was under a different set of sanctions, the most famous blustery statement was made by Rogozin. He said that American astronauts should go to space by trampoline instead of using Russia's spaceships.
The situation is different today. Commercial replacements for the space shuttle were not ready in time for the Americans to use the Soyuz for access to the International Space Station.
NASA ordered three more crewed flights on the Crew Dragon just a few days ago. Boeing's Starliner isn't ready yet but may be up for crewed flights in a year or so, pending the result of a second uncrewed test flight in May.
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