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Saturday, April 2, 2022
Russian space chief warns sanctions over Ukraine could imperil space station
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MOSCOW — The head of Russia’s space program says today that the future of the International Space Station hangs in the balance after the United States, the European Union and Canadian space agencies missed a deadline to meet Russian demands for lifting sanctions on Russian enterprises and hardware.
Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, tells reporters that the state agency is preparing a report on the prospects of international cooperation at the station, to be presented to federal authorities “after Roscosmos has completed its analysis.”
Rogozin implies on Russian state TV that the Western sanctions, some of which predate Russia’s current military operations in Ukraine, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft servicing the ISS with cargo flights. Russia also sends manned missions to the space station.
He stresses that the Western partners need the space station and “cannot manage without Russia, because no one but us can deliver fuel to the station.”
Rogozin adds that “only the engines of our cargo craft are able to correct the ISS’s orbit, keeping it safe from space debris.”
Rogozin also writes on his Telegram channel that he received responses from his Western counterparts vowing to promote “further cooperation on the ISS and its operations.”
He reiterates his view that “the restoration of normal relations between partners in the ISS and other joint (space) projects is possible only with the complete and unconditional lifting” of sanctions, which he referred to as illegal.
The Times of Israel Community.