Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused a deep wedge between the country's space agency and its international partners.
In a Frequently Asked Questions page published by NASA this week, the agency explored what could happen if Russia were to abandon the International Space Station.
The head of Russia's space agency has made shocking comments over the past few weeks, so a complete break at the International Space Station isn't out of the question. In the past, Rogozin has threatened the United States with a falling space station.
NASA responded to several questions about what would happen if Russians were to leave the station suddenly, and if it was possible for the Russian segment to form its own station.
Russia's abandonment could be disastrous for operations on board the aging orbital outpost, but it won't be able to simply sever itself and continue operations in space.
Russian and NASA astronauts are required to be present at all times. One country is fully reliant on the other to keep operations going.
Only US astronauts are trained to respond to failure scenarios of the United States Orbital segment.
The same is true for Russian cosmonauts in failure situations that originate on the Russian segment.
The Russian segment provides all of the power for the International Space Station used for station reboost, attitude control, debris avoidance maneuvers and eventual de-orbit operations.
NASA's mission control centers in Houston and Moscow only control their segments, despite operating on the same station.
The Russian segment could be separated from the rest of the station and leave NASA's Mark Vande Hei behind, according to a controversial video shared by the Russian.
The space station was not designed to be disassembled, and current interdependencies between each segment of the station prevent the US Orbital segment and Russian segment from operating independently.
The risk of de-orbiting is something that carries some weight. The station needs a continuous and steady supply of spaceships.
Significant new hardware and software development would be required for the US to end its reliance on thrust provided by Progress.
The only commercial spaceship that has ever been tested to provide a boost wouldn't be able to replace the Russian ones.
If the US fails to modify US-made spaceships to provide enough thrust to deorbit the International Space Station, Russia will have to help dispose of it by 2030.
It is an unfortunate situation. Vande Hei will return to Earth on a Russian spaceship, but cooperation on the International Space Station is on thin ice.
The space station's future prospects aren't looking great given Russia's bombardment of civilian targets.
The International Space Station is frequently asked questions.
NASA says it's still carpooling back to Earth on a Russian spaceship.
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