New threats from Moscow: If the USA and its allies do not lift the massive sanctions against Russia, this could mean the end of cooperation on the International Space Station.
Moscow has threatened to end cooperation on the International Space Station if the United States and other Western countries do not lift their sanctions against Russia. The Moscow leadership will shortly propose specific deadlines for ending the cooperation, said the head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, on Saturday via Telegram. The letters would then be sent to the space agencies of the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Union. They had issued the sanctions after Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
NASA boss: ISS operations ‘remain a priority for the United States’
A full restoration of normal relations between the ISS partners is “possible only with a complete and unconditional lifting of illegal sanctions,” said Rogozin. He also published letters in reply to Telegram from his US colleague Bill Nelson from NASA and the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher.
Nelson replied that cooperation with Russia on the ISS should continue. Accordingly, NASA also wants to work with the US authorities for simplified solutions, it said with a view to the Russian companies subject to sanctions, including the manufacturer of the space rocket Progress. “Maintaining safe and successful ISS operations remains a priority for the United States.”
In contrast, the Austrian Aschbacher only acted as a “postman”, said Rogosin. He only passed the Roskosmos letter on to the EU members. Russia should therefore wait until all EU members have spoken, criticized Rogozin. Until then, the ISS could “die its own death”.
It is clear that the sanctions will not be lifted. Nevertheless, it is pretended that they do not concern the ISS, “where the role of Russia is fundamentally important in ensuring the vital functions and security” of mankind’s outpost. That is unacceptable. The sanctions aimed to cripple Russia’s high-tech companies. “The aim of the sanctions is to kill Russia’s economy, to plunge our people into despair and hunger, to bring our country to its knees,” he said. But that won’t work.
An American and two Russians have returned from the ISS
Just a few days ago, a US astronaut and two cosmonauts returned to Earth together from the International Space Station (ISS) on board a Russian space capsule. The American Mark Vande Hei and the cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov landed in bright sunshine in central Kazakhstan on Wednesday, as live images from the US space agency Nasa showed.
55-year-old Vande Hei arrived on the ISS on April 9, 2021 together with Dubrow. He has now been in space for 355 days, overtaking Scott Kelly, who previously held the record for the longest stay by an American in space at 341 consecutive days. Vande Hei circumnavigated the earth around 5,680 times. “Mark’s mission not only broke a record, but also paved the way for future human explorers on the Moon, Mars and beyond,” said NASA CEO Bill Nelson.
In addition to Marshburn, the US astronauts Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, the German astronaut Matthias Maurer and the three cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov remained on the ISS.
Nasa begins testing for lunar mission
On Friday (local time), NASA also started important tests of its new giant moon rocket SLS. The two-day tests at the Kennedy Space Center in the state of Florida include the simulation of a start countdown, as announced by Nasa. It is the dress rehearsal for the unmanned moon mission Artemis 1, which is scheduled to start in a few months. During the tests, which will last until Sunday, the 98 meter high rocket will be refueled with 2.6 million liters of fuel.
First, NASA announced that there was a first launch window for the SLS rocket in May. In the meantime, however, a later date in the summer seems more likely. Artemis 1 is intended to pave the way for renewed US manned moon missions in the coming years. With the huge SLS rockets and an Orion space capsule, NASA wants to bring astronauts back to Earth’s satellite for the first time since 1972. In the Artemis 1 mission, the SLS rocket will first orbit the moon without a crew and then return to Earth. Astronauts are expected to orbit the moon with Artemis 2 in 2024.
Source: Stern
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