Russia to end cooperation over International Space Station if sanctions are not lifted

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PHXPhlyer
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Russia to end cooperation over International Space Station if sanctions are not lifted

#1 Post by PHXPhlyer » Sat Apr 02, 2022 3:01 pm

Russia will look to end mutual cooperation on the International Space Station if Western sanctions against the country are not lifted, the head of the country's space agency said Saturday.

Dmitry Rogozin said in a series of tweets that the U.S, European Union and Canadian space agencies had responded to letters he sent demanding the removal of sanctions against corporations connected to the Russian aerospace industry.

"From our perspective it is clear that sanctions will not be lifted," he wrote, adding that he felt "such a state of affairs is unacceptable."

As a result, he said he believed that the revival of normal relations between Roscosmos and its ISS partners was only possible when the sanctions were lifted.

Proposals for the completion or termination of mutual cooperation "will be presented to our country’s government in the nearest future," he added.

In separate comments to reporters broadcast on Russian state TV, Rogozin stressed that Western partners need the ISS and "cannot manage without Russia, because no one but us can deliver fuel to the station."

Rogozin added that "only the engines of our cargo craft are able to correct the ISS's orbit, keeping it safe from space debris."

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Re: Russia to end cooperation over International Space Station if sanctions are not lifted

#2 Post by Boac » Sun Apr 03, 2022 7:55 am

Stand-by for a Musk announcement of a mod to the Dragon capsule and another NASA contract :))

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Re: Russia to end cooperation over International Space Station if sanctions are not lifted

#3 Post by PHXPhlyer » Sun Apr 03, 2022 4:00 pm

Boac wrote:
Sun Apr 03, 2022 7:55 am
Stand-by for a Musk announcement of a mod to the Dragon capsule and another NASA contract :))
My thoughts exactly.

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Re: Russia to end cooperation over International Space Station if sanctions are not lifted

#4 Post by PHXPhlyer » Tue Jul 26, 2022 5:44 pm

Russia says it will quit International Space Station after 2024
The move comes as Moscow and the West clash over the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, and casts new doubt over the future of global collaboration in space.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russ ... -rcna39988

Russia said Tuesday it will withdraw from the International Space Station after 2024, signaling the end of a joint project that has served as a key symbol of post-Cold War cooperation with Washington.

The move comes as Moscow and the West clash over the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, and casts new doubt over the future of global collaboration in space. Russia has intimated that it sees its future as primarily a cooperative effort with the Chinese space program rather than NASA, its main partner of the last 25 years.

The head of Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, told President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the country would exit the ISS and focus on building its own space station, according to state media.

"The decision on withdrawal from this station after 2024 has been made,” newly appointed Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov said, according to the Tass news agency.

Construction of the outpost in low-Earth orbit began in 1998 and was completed in 2011. It has been hailed as an example of reconciliation between the longtime adversaries, but has now felt the impact of a renewed earthly confrontation.

That agreement over the aging space station runs out in 2024. And Russian officials have previously hinted that they would let the agreement expire to work on their own Russian orbital station, which they hope will be operational in 2025.


On Tuesday, Borisov, who was appointed director of Russia's space agency this month, confirmed to Putin that he intended to do just that. Borisov said that Russia would fulfill its obligations to its partners before departing, according to Tass.

He said that Roscosmos' main aim should be to "raise the bar" and provide the country with "necessary space services," such as global navigation, communication and meteorological data. The space "industry is in a difficult situation," Tass quoted him as saying.

The announcement comes as the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine threatens to affect everything from European energy supplies to global food stocks.

Despite the rift, NASA and Roscosmos made a deal this month for astronauts to continue riding Russian rockets and for Russian cosmonauts to catch lifts to the space station with SpaceX beginning this fall, The Associated Press reported.

That agreement ensures that the space station will always have at least one American and one Russian on board to keep both sides of the orbiting outpost running smoothly, AP said.

NASA and Roscosmos were the two main partners responsible for building and operating the ISS, with the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency also involved.

However, tensions between Russia and the West, heightened by the invasion of Ukraine, have also soured space relations.

Three Russian cosmonauts blasted off to the ISS in March. And Roscosmos published photos this month appearing to show those cosmonauts holding the flag of Luhansk, one of the self-declared republics that Russia helped split from Ukraine in 2014 and had just claimed to have fully captured in the current conflict.

Former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin has regularly hit out at Western sanctions against Russia, saying they could cause the ISS to crash into the United States.

He also celebrated the flags of other countries being covered up on Russian-built rockets, drawing a sharp response from retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly.

“Without those flags and the foreign exchange they bring in, your space program won't be worth a damn," Kelly tweeted to Rogozin in March.

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