MOSCOW (AP) — Russia‘s space program announced on Saturday that the future International Space station Space agencies of the United States, European Union and Canada hang in the balance after missing the deadline to meet Russia’s demands to lift sanctions on Russian businesses and hardware.
The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, told reporters that the state agency has prepared a report on the prospects for international cooperation at the station, to be submitted to federal authorities “after Roscosmos has completed its analysis.”
Rogozin hinted to Russian state television that some of the Western sanctions were older. RussiaCurrent military operations in Ukraine could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft serving the ISS with cargo flights. Russia It also sends manned missions to the space station.
He stressed that Western partners need the space station and “can’t manage without it”. Russiabecause no one but us can fuel the station.”
“Only our cargo ship’s engines can correct the ISS’ trajectory and protect it from space debris,” added Rogozin.
Later on Saturday, Rogozin wrote on his Telegram channel that he had received responses from his Western colleagues promising to encourage “more cooperation on the ISS and its operations.”
He reiterated the view that the restoration of normal relations between partners in the ISS and partners in other joint (space) projects is possible only with the complete and unconditional lifting of sanctions, which he called illegal.
The Canadian Space Agency declined to comment. NASA and the European Space Agency did not immediately return emailed requests for comment.
Space is one of the last remaining areas of cooperation between Moscow and Western countries. As the US-Russia negotiations on the resumption of joint flights to the space station continue Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine last month, resulting in unprecedented sanctions against Russian state-linked entities.
So far the USA and Russia they are still cooperating in space. A NASA astronaut caught Russia’s return journey to Earth on Wednesday, after a record 355 days in the US. International Space stationreturns with two cosmonauts.
Mark Vande Hei landed on a Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan with Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Space Agency, who spent the last year in space. After landing, the wind swung the capsule sideways, and one by one, the trio stepped out into the afternoon sun.
Vande Hei’s return followed traditional procedures. A small team of NASA doctors and other personnel were on hand for contact and promptly returned home with the 55-year-old astronaut.
