The ongoing conflict between Russia and the western countries might reach space. The Russian space agency threatens not to bring NASA’s astronaut Mark Vande Hei back to Earth.
NASA's astronaut Mark Vande Hei might not be able to land on Earth after Roscosmos's Director-General threatens to leave him in the International Space Station.
Due to the ongoing dispute in Russia and Ukraine, Russia might retaliate to the sanctions imposed by the U.S. by not bringing back American astronaut Mark Vande Hei.
NASA's Astronaut Mark Vande Hei
Astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who currently holds the world record for the longest space flight, is scheduled to return to Earth in just three weeks after spending 355 days in space.
Mark Vande Hei is in the International Space Station along with two Russian cosmonauts. All three of them are bound to return to Earth through a Russian spacecraft that will land in Kazakhstan.
However, according to ABC News, Vande Hei's return may be delayed as a result of unprecedented sanctions against Russia. When the aggression broke out in Ukraine, President Joe Biden addressed the media stating it will impose serious sanctions.
Among these sanctions is a wide-scale ban on more than half of Russia's high-tech imports. President Biden stated, "It'll degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program."
However, NASA's statement was contradictory to what was stated by President Biden. NASA stated that the civil cooperation of the agency towards Russia remains the same and there are no changes planned. NASA will still continue its support to all of the space operations ongoing both in the ground and in space.
Unfortunately, the Director-General of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, received the statements of President Biden differently.
He proceeded to respond to Biden with a series of hostile tweets. His video, posted on February 26 in Russian, threatened to leave Vande Hei behind in space and to completely detach Russia's segment of the space station.
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Russia Draws Back From OneWeb Obligations
Russia seems to be taking its space relations seriously. Recently, Roscosmos halted its partnership with U.K.'s OneWeb. OneWeb is an internet satellite company.
OneWeb has a long-standing relationship with Russia's Roscosmos, who was supposed to launch 36 satellites of OneWeb in the Soyuz rocket.
However, Russia made surprising demands days before the launch. It seemed like retaliation from the sanctions imposed by the west over the country.
The Russian space agency demanded to oust the British government as a major stakeholder of the company and demanded that OneWeb gives assurance that the satellites will not be used for military purposes.
None of the demands were met, and OneWeb's satellite launch ended up being halted thereafter.
International Space Station
Russia's space agency is called Roscosmos and U.S.' space agency is popularly known to be NASA.
NASA and Roscosmos have had a long-standing relationship. Both space agencies have worked extremely closely for the ISS.
The International Space Station (ISS) is a large spacecraft that is currently in orbit around the planet. It is used as a base for astronaut and cosmonaut crews to live and work in space.
The ISS serves as a unique science laboratory as well. Several countries collaborated on the construction and operation of the space station. The space station is made up of components that were assembled in space by astronauts during the construction process.
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