John Paul M. Joaquin Science 05.02.2022 23:May PM EDT

ICYMI, Russia is Pulling Out International Space Station Due to Sanctions

The International Space Station (ISS) is one piece of evidence of humanity's capacity to cooperate regardless of nationality and political ideologies.

However, that sentiment may soon be a thing of the past due to current events.

Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin said on Russian State TV that Russia is ending its work on the ISS due to the various sanctions placed on it, per Bloomberg.

The space station was operational due to Russia and US' efforts to make it happen in 1969, per the ISS National Lab.

Roscosmos is Russia's equivalent of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Roscosmos Pull Out Details

According to Russian state media outlets Tass and RIA Novosti, Rogozin said that the decision to pull Roscosmos out of the ISS "has been taken already" and that Roscosmos is not obliged to talk about it publicly.

Rogozin did add that Roscosmos will inform its partners about their decision with a year's notice.

Roscosmos' Director-General previously threatened the West with non-cooperation and eventual pull out within the ISS if the economic sanctions placed on Russia remain in effect, saying that they were "unacceptable." He also added that normal relations between Russia and the West are only possible through "the complete and unconditional lifting of illegal sanctions."

Rogozin posted these statements on Twitter for anyone to read in early April. However, it seems Rogozin chose to limit the people who view his statements, effectively hiding them from anyone save for those he specified that can. Thankfully, an archived copy of his tweets can be found on the Wayback Machine.

Rogozin also threatened the US with Roscosmos' withdrawal from the ISS in February due to the latter's sanctions on major Russian banks and the imposition of export controls on Russia to reduce high-tech imports to the country, per a separate report from The Hill.

If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the US or... Europe?" Rogozin said in one of his tweets at the time. "There is also the possibility of a 500-ton structure falling on India and China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS does not fly over Russia, therefore, all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?

Rogozin also chose to limit the people who view this particular tweet.

ISS History

The ISS is the result of the collaboration among five space agencies representing 15 countries, including Russia's Roscosmos and the US' NASA. As such, it is not owned by one single nation, per the European Space Agency (ESA).

Other nations and space agencies, such as the ESA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency, have either contributed funding or astronauts.

A total of 19 countries have visited the ISS, which resulted in a total of 244 individuals visiting it as of April 2021, according to Space.com.

NASA mentioned that the ISS will continue to operate until 2030. Afterward, it will be retired or decommissioned by commanding it to crash into the Pacific Ocean's "spacecraft cemetery," letting it burn up on Earth's atmosphere and crashing it in the process.