“Astronauts and cosmonauts talk about how human spaceflight is beyond geopolitical tensions, because you can have cooperations that don’t exist on Earth,” says Julie Patarin-Jossec, a sociologist in Paris who has studied the relationships among the ISS partners.
On 9 March, astronaut Matthias Maurer released an upbeat video tour of Europe’s science laboratory on the ISS. None of the astronauts or cosmonauts on board has said anything publicly about the invasion of Ukraine. Each is dependent on the other for key services: the NASA-led side of the station provides electrical power to the Russian side, while Russia provides the orbital boosting that is occasionally needed to stop the ISS from falling to lower altitudes and disintegrating in Earth’s atmosphere.Īccording to NASA, the space station is operating as usual. Part of the station is Russian-built and operated by cosmonauts, and the other part is built and run by the US, European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies. “When historians look back, it will be 1991 - the collapse of Soviet Union - to 2022.” Beyond politics?īy design, the ISS relies on Russia working together smoothly with 14 other nations. “This will fracture that relationship built after the end of the cold war,” says Asif Siddiqi, a historian at Fordham University in New York City. The war is ending partnerships that began three decades ago to bridge the divide between Russia and the West. Other collaborations in space are also throwing up new challenges, as Russia and Western nations pull out of joint projects. “Keep in mind, the crew does fly over Ukraine and can look down and see the devastation, the fires and the smoke. “The mood on board is probably similar to here on Planet Earth about this tragic situation,” says John Grunsfeld, a former NASA astronaut. Ukraine conflict jeopardizes launch of Europe’s first Mars rover Since 2000, when people first moved in, the ISS has generally managed to stay out of Earth-bound politics - but the Ukraine conflict could change that. International collaborations are being shaken to the core as space agencies and researchers grapple with the ramifications of the war.Īmong the biggest questions is the fate of the International Space Station (ISS), the orbiting outpost that is currently home to two Russian cosmonauts, four US astronauts and one European astronaut. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is redrawing geopolitics not only across the planet, but also in space.
Spacecraft from the United States (left) and Russia (middle, right) docked to the International Space Station.
0 kommentar(er)
