Posted on 03/12/2022 6:03:31 AM PST by blam
Two decades of space cooperation between the U.S. and Russia could be coming to an end after the U.S. and its allies imposed crippling sanctions on the country. The Russian government announced Friday that it might abandon a U.S. astronaut set to return to Earth.
Fox News reports that the Russian Space Agency head, Dmitry Rogozin, has “threatened to leave” U.S. astronaut Mark Vande Hei aboard the International Space Station (ISS), who is scheduled to return to Earth on a Russian spacecraft by the end of the month.
JUST IN: Russia threatens to abandon ‘American Astronaut’ in spacepic.twitter.com/ybTrf8TR8e
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) March 11, 2022
“Rogozin posted a threatening video on social media casting doubt over the astronaut’s safety. He also warned that without the help from Russia to move the ISS away from space junk, the station would crash into the U.S.,” reports the Express.
Relations in space are souring as the U.S. and its Western allies hammer Russia’s economy with devastating sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. This angered Moscow so much that they threatened to deorbit the ISS last month.
Former U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly recently told ABC News that Russia’s threat to the safety of Americans on ISS is “not really based on reality.”
“We do have the ability to control the orbit of the space station independent of the Russian space agency, so I don’t really see that happening,” Kelly said.
Even if the Russians were to abandon the U.S. astronaut and ISS altogether, Elon Musk has suggested his space company SpaceX could keep the ISS from deorbiting and even shuttle astronauts and cargo to and from Earth.
Vande Hei holds the record for longest space flight (at 355 days). It remains to be seen in three weeks if the Russians will allow him to board the spacecraft bound for Kazakhstan with two Russian cosmonauts. If not, maybe Musk can send a rocket with a Dragon capsule to the ISS.
Things are so bad between the U.S. and Russia that Rogozin ordered flags of the U.S. and its allies to be removed off Russian rockets.
In the meantime, he’s a great bargaining chip for the Russians.
It was Obama who shut down US access to space and let the Russians provide all the transport up to the ISS.
And then declared our space mission priority is go get Muslims in space.
The democrats can not do anything right.
Gee whiz, if America had not let the Marxist EnviroNazis dictate the method of manufacture of the materials used in the construction of the Space Shuttle and booster, we could just pop right up there and get our Astronaut.
All part of the joint venture.
Russia needs the Carthage treatment. The sooner, the better.
Water-—Peanut butter-—Jelly—Bread-—toilet paper would be enough in an emergency
Entering into space projects with totalitarian regimes turns out not to be a good idea - shocking development. Becoming energy dependent on totalitarian regimes is also a terrible idea, but Leftists going to Leftist.
Pretty sure it is called the International Space Station.
hope they do leave him up there....serves us right for depending (thx Dubba you traitorous war criminal) on them (Russia) in the first place...I saw this coming years ago
If Russia decides to abandon the ISS, their space program is dead forever. They will lose access to all rocket technology and cooperation of the program members FOREVER.
National suicide on their part.
My favorite NASA story:
https://qz.com/2046840/a-1-billion-space-suit-is-holding-up-nasas-2024-moon-landing/
This is the clown world we are dealing with....
We are lucky that is all they are leaving after all the DemocRATS have done. You don’t poke a porch dog and expect it to lay there and take it.
Your enemy is not Putin—it is the Democratic Party.
You will figure it out—hopefully sooner rather than later.
Biden’s Team probably don’t really give a damn what happens to that Astronaut, since he is probably a conservative anyway, but hopefully someone will realize how bad this will look with Mid Term Elections coming up. That might make them do what’s right for this Astronaut’s safety. Think what his family feels hearing this conversation; their loved one now a mere bargaining chip between the nations.
“return him to Earth and not let him leave Russia.”
They could just draft him into the cosmonaut program.
Win win.
Imho the future of space travel (Moon, Mars) is private enterprise, not nations.
If we have learned anything it is that such programs must be more creative and nimble, not burdened with layers of bureaucracy.
Military satellites and weapons are a separate issue, of course—and none of the major powers will abandon those.
There are NO GOOD GUYS in this. Russia OR Ukraine. Picking sides is a false choice of choosing one evil over another.
SpaceX has sent two Crew Dragon craft to the ISS, as well as numerous Cargo Dragon craft. It is definitely in SpaceX’s skillset to resupply and transfer crews to and from the ISS.
I guess you have been following the new in the last year or so.
“...Anything to defend Ukrainian corruption...”
Us corrupt countries have to stick together.
Extremely sounds like a troll.
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