“Conflict on Earth won't interfere with space relations too much”
Four US astronauts and two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are 'largely insulated' from tensions due to armed conflict in Ukraine. Former head of the National Space Council Scott Pace said that the United States and Russia are mutually dependent on each other in space. He added that “good working relationships on a technical level” make it unlikely that the conflict at the bottom would interfere with space relationships.
Credit: nasa.gov
The four American astronauts and two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station were “largely insulated” from invasion-related tensions, according to the former head of the National Space Council Russia to Ukraine.
U.S.-Russian relations in space have also been unhampered by political conflicts on Earth, according to the Daily Mail, citing the Associated Press. The space station houses four NASA astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts and one European astronaut.
“They can't work without us, we can't work without them, so it's really an international partnership,” said Scott Pace, who is now director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.
Former space officer Council noted that the International Space Station “does exist in the broader context of the US-Russian relationship.”
“However, given our mutual dependency and the good working relationship that we have developed on a technical level, I don't see nothing that could happen to the station in the near future, despite the events on Earth,” he said.
“You can imagine a break with Russia that would jeopardize the space station, but that would be at the level of breaking diplomatic ties,” Pace added. “That would be a last resort, so I don't think it will happen unless there is a wider military confrontation.”
There have been concerns in the US Congress about the impact of the conflict over Ukraine on the International Space Station.
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Legislators have specifically exempted space cooperation from previous sanctions and can be expected to make similar arguments against targeting it as the administration ponders its next steps regarding the Ukraine crisis.
Space Station is an international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries, including Canada, several European countries, Japan, Russia and the United States. Launched in 1998, it has grown into a complex almost the size of a football field, with eight miles of electrical wiring, acres of solar panels, and three high-tech labs.