HOUSTON, Texas (Washington Insider Magazine) – Russia and the United States have collaborated over the past 24 years to build and manage the International Space Station, wherein scientific research has led to the most significant discoveries of the twenty-first century.
Now, 227 miles under the unparalleled laboratory, Russia is fighting a war in Ukraine, pitting the nation against the United States and its allies, putting the ISS’s survival in jeopardy, according to ABC NEWS.
The ISS is separated into 2 sections: the US-operated Russian Orbital Segment and the Russian Orbital Segment, which is administered by the Russians. American astronauts first set foot inside the ISS in 1998.
The collaboration has continued since then. When the United States’ shuttle program ended in 2011, astronauts such as Cady Coleman had to rely only on Russian space rockets to arrive at the International Space Station.
Coleman said that once aboard the spacecraft, it didn’t make a difference where you hailed from; this was all regarding how to live and work together.
According to Coleman, Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts will work together on everything including life-or-death space missions to routine tasks.
When SpaceX unveiled their Crew Dragon Capsule in 2020, NASA’s dependency on Russian rockets came to an end, but discussions are ongoing to permit Russians to fly on future potential SpaceX flights.
Russian cosmonauts are still training at NASA’s Houston site.
Mark Vande Hei, the current record holder for the longest space journey, will complete his 355 days in space in only 3 weeks. On a Russian spaceship, he will arrive in Kazakhstan accompanied by 2 Russian cosmonauts.
However, unprecedented Russian sanctions might put Vande Hei’s homecoming on hold. President Joe Biden imposed further penalties after Russia invaded Ukraine over 2 weeks ago, including the suspension of nearly half of Russia’s high-tech imports.
NASA issued a statement about Russian-US civil space partnership shortly after the statements, stating that no modifications are anticipated and that the organization would keep supporting current orbital and ground station activities.
In a series of scathing tweets, Dmitry Rogozin, the chief of Russia’s Space Organization and a close supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, replied to Biden. He threatened to abandon Vande Hei in orbit and separate Russia’s section of the space station completely in a video he uploaded in Russian on February 26.
Rogozin’s threats to desert Vande Hei in orbit have elicited no response from NASA. Russia had stated intentions to leave the space station as soon as 2025 prior to the crisis in Ukraine.
Despite the fact that the battle on Earth continues, Kelly expressed hope that the US-Russian collaboration in space may be repaired.
The International Space Station, according to Kelly, is an example of how peace may be achieved since all astronauts have a single goal: to learn and explore.
