How to Save the International Space Station and Prevent the Dreaded "Gap"
Freeman writes:
How to save the International Space Station and prevent the dreaded "gap":
In the 10 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, relations between the first nation to reach space and the Western world have been stripped to the bone.
To wit: Europe's space agency has canceled several launches on Russian rockets, a contract between privately held OneWeb and Roscosmos for six Soyuz launches has been nullified, Europe suspended work on its ExoMars exploration mission that was set to use a Russian rocket and lander, and Russia has vowed to stop selling rocket engines to US launch companies.
Virtually every diplomatic and economic tie between Russia's space industry and Europe and the United States has been severed but one-the International Space Station.
In addition to these actions, Russia's chief spaceflight official, Dmitry Rogozin, has been bombastic since the war's outbreak, vacillating between jingoistic and nationalistic statements on Twitter and threats about how the ISS partnership could end. Moreover, the Kremlin-aligned publication RIA Novosti even created a creepy video showing Russians leaving their American colleagues behind in space.
But Rogozin has not crossed any red lines with his deeds. Although the intemperate space chief has taken every punitive and symbolic step that Roscosmos can in response to Western sanctions, he has stopped short of huge, partnership-breaking actions.
[...] The US space agency's chief of human spaceflight operations, Kathy Lueders, said last week that it would be a "sad day" if NASA and Russia stopped working together on the space station.
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