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The head of Russia’s space agency said on Saturday that he would present a proposal to the Russian government to end cooperation on the International Space Station program.
Dimitry Rogozin, managing director of Roscosmos, the state agency that oversees Russia’s space program, accused Western nations’ sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine of jeopardizing cooperation in orbit, on his Telegram social media account.
“I believe that the restoration of normal relations between partners on the International Space Station and other joint projects is possible only with the complete and unconditional lifting of illegal sanctions,” said Mr. Rogozin.
Mr Rogozin did not provide any details, including a timeline for when he would ask Russia to end its involvement in the orbiting lab.
The space station has for years been hailed as an example of cooperation between Moscow and Washington in a post-Cold War world, and Mr. Rogozin’s latest proposals about its future served as an indication of the seriousness of tensions between the West and Russia. On Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
However, NASA officials carefully avoided Mr Rogozin’s statements that Russia might withdraw from the space station partnership and said operations on the space station were continuing as normal.
On Wednesday, a NASA astronaut, Mark Vande Hei, and two Russian colleagues returned to Earth. The return pods landed in Kazakhstan and were met at the landing site by Russian and NASA personnel, who collaborated to safely rescue the astronauts.
The agreement between NASA, Russia and other countries participating in the space station program runs until 2024. The United States wants to extend that to 2030. Kathy Lueders, NASA’s assistant director of space operations, said that the discussions were ongoing recently.
“All our international partners, including Roscosmos, are making progress towards extending the station to 2030,” he said at a press conference on Thursday of the four astronauts approaching the space station with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
“We all understand the importance of this continued partnership, even in really, really, really difficult times.”
NASA is also working on other agreements with Russia. Ms. Lueders said NASA still awaits review by Russia of an agreement that would allow some Russian astronauts to board future American rocket launches and allow some NASA astronauts to continue launching Russia’s Soyuz rocket.
Unlike NASA’s purchase of Soyuz seats for its astronauts after the space shuttles retire, these would essentially be a barter exchange with no financial payments.
“We’re still collaborating on it,” said Dana Weigel, deputy director of the space station program at NASA.
A crew of seven, including three Russians, led by NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, is currently on the space station.
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