An American astronaut could be stuck on the international space station (ISS) due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Mark Vande Heiwhich holds the record for the longest flight, would become an indirect victim of the conflict after the Russian Space Agency threatened NASA with leave it in space.
Agree with abcnews, Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, posted a video where he warns that he will leave Vande Hei on the ISS. After spending 355 days in space, the American astronaut plans to return to Earth with two Russian cosmonauts.
If Rogozin carries out his threat, Vande Hei could not land in Kazakhstan in three weeks. In recent days, the American astronaut has been working on the study of a space fire safety system with his Russian counterpart, Piotr Dubrov.
The space agency’s reaction comes at a time of tension between the United States and Russia over the war in Ukraine and economic sanctions imposed on Vladimir Putin’s government.
The threat from the Roscosmos boss came after the announcement of a new package that will affect Russia’s aerospace industry. A few days ago, US President Joe Biden cut Russia’s high-tech imports in half, warning he would downgrade its space program.
Russia plans to separate the International Space Station
Dmitry Rogozin was furious and threatened to completely separate the Russian section from the ISS. Remember that this part contains the engines that keep it afloat and separating the section would endanger the structure of the station.
The head of Roscosmos assured that this is not the first time that they have received such sanctions. When annexing Crimea in 2014, Russia had limited access to radiation-resistant space microelectronics thanks to a US veto.
Rogozin recalled the incident in a Tweeter published a few days ago where he talks about the new American rebuke.
Biden said the new sanctions would affect Russia’s space program. It’s good. The details remain to be known: Do you want to block our access to radiation-resistant space microelectronics? You already did it quite officially in 2014.
Although the United States and Russia are in a very delicate position, NASA does not want to end cooperation with Roscosmos. The agency recently reported that the space collaboration between the two countries remains unchanged. The publication mentions that American, Russian and European cosmonauts are training together and preparing for upcoming spacewalks.
NASA is planning a six-hour spacewalk on March 15. The transmission of this event would serve to show that there is a good relationship between the astronauts of the International Space Station.
Scott Kelly, a retired astronaut who has commanded three ISS missions, thinks he can make sense of the Russian Space Agency. “I’ve known a lot of them for over two decades, I trust them. I literally trusted them with my life before,” he said.
Although Kelly was exasperated by Roscosmos’ statements, the veteran cosmonaut points to the International Space Station as a place of peace and one of the few things that unites all of humanity.
