The head of Russia’s space program said Saturday that the future of the International Space Station hangs in the balance after the space agencies of Canada, the United States and the European Union failed to comply in time with Russian demands to remove sanctions on Russian companies and hardware.
Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, told reporters that the Russian state agency is preparing a report on the prospects for international cooperation on the station to present to federal authorities after Roscosmos completes its analysis.
Rogozin hinted on Russian state television that Western sanctions, some of which predate Russia’s current military operations in Ukraine, could affect the operation of Russian spacecraft that service ISS cargo flights. Russia also sends manned missions to the orbital base.
He emphasized that Western partners need the space station and cannot cope without Russia, because no one but us can deliver fuel to the station.
Rogozin added that only the engines of our cargo aircraft are capable of correcting the orbit of the ISS, keeping it safe and free of debris.
Hours later, Rogozin wrote on his Telegram channel that he received responses from his Western counterparts promising to promote further cooperation on the ISS and its operations.
He reiterated his view that the restoration of normal relations between partners on the ISS and other joint (space) projects is possible only with the complete and unconditional removal of sanctions, which he called illegal.
Space is one of the last areas of cooperation between Moscow and Western nations. The U.S. and Russia were conducting negotiations to resume joint flights into space when Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine last month, triggering unprecedented sanctions on Russian entities linked to the state.
So far, the U.S. and Russia are still cooperating in space. A NASA astronaut returned to Earth Wednesday with two Russian cosmonauts on a Russian spacecraft after the United States set a record 355 days on the International Space Station.
Mark Vande Hei landed in Kazakhstan in a Soyuz capsule along with Pyotr Dubrov, who also spent the last year in space, and Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Space Agency. The wind flipped the capsule on its side after landing and the trio departed in the afternoon, one at a time.
Vande Hei’s return adhered to customary procedures. A small team of NASA doctors and other employees were on hand when he landed and immediately returned home with the 55-year-old astronaut.
