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SPACE – The International Space Station, which operates through collaboration between the United States and the Russia particular, is not affected for the moment by the extreme tensions between the two countries, linked to Russian invasion of Ukrainereassured this Monday, February 28 the Nasa.
But the US space agency is still working on solutions that would keep it in orbit without help from Russia, she said.
“We are operating peacefully in space right now,” said Nasa associate administrator Kathy Lueders, even as Russia finds itself largely isolated on the international stage.
“We have no indication, at an operational level, that our counterparts are not committed to continuing the ongoing operations of the International Space Station” (ISS), she underlined, questioned on the question during a press conference.
The American and Russian teams “still talk to each other”, “still work together”, and “operate exactly as they did three weeks ago”, she hammered. However, she said NASA was continuing to “evaluate the situation”.
In the past, this pacifism continued even when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, a move opposed by the United States. “Nobody was talking about it. It was like nothing happened,” astronaut Steve Swanson recently commented to CNN. “We went about our usual business without worrying about that”.
Russia is essential to the proper functioning of the ISS, because its propulsion system, making it possible to carry out orbit corrections, relies on Russian vessels.
Horizon 2030
“We are looking at how we could add other capabilities,” conceded Kathy Lueders, citing ongoing discussions with Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, whose ships are already heading to the ISS.
“We looked at this from an operational flexibility perspective,” she said. But “currently, it would be very difficult for us to operate alone”, and this eventuality would mark “a sad day”, she further underlined.
Last week, in a series of incendiary tweets, the director of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, accused Washington of wanting to “destroy” cooperation around the Station.
Without Russia, “who will save the ISS from uncontrolled de-orbiting, and falling on the United States or Europe?” he asked, threateningly. SpaceX boss Elon Musk responded to this tweet by posting an image simply showing his company logo.
Through the international partnership, the old space station must survive at least another ten years. NASA wants to extend its operations until 2030 before handing over to commercial companies that will develop their own spaceships.
NASA has already awarded three contracts; one of which to Blue Origin de Jeff Bezos to begin the development of these commercial stations. But we don’t know yet when they will be ready. And Russia has still not accepted the six-year extension of the International Space Station proposed by the Biden administration.
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