Washington. The International Space Station (ISS), which works mainly thanks to the collaboration between the United States and Russia, is currently not affected by the tensions between the two countries after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NASA said on Monday.
Despite everything, the US space agency announced that it is looking for solutions that would keep it in orbit without the help of Russia.
“We are operating peacefully in space right now,” said NASA Associate Administrator Kathy Lueders.
“We have no indications, at the operational level, that our counterparts are not committed to continuing the ongoing operations at the station,” he stressed at a press conference.
The teams from both countries “continue to work together” and operate exactly as they did three weeks ago,” he added.
However, NASA “assesses the situation.” Russia is essential for the proper functioning of the ISS, since its propulsion system, which allows orbit corrections to be made, depends on its ships. “We are looking at how we could add other capabilities,” Lueders also acknowledged, citing negotiations with Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, whose artifacts are already traveling to the station. “Currently it would be very difficult for us to operate alone,” he commented.
Last week, in a series of incendiary tweets, the head of the Russian space agency, Dmitri Rogozin, accused Washington of wanting to “destroy” cooperation around the ISS. Without Russia, “who will save the station from an uncontrolled exit from orbit and falling on the United States or Europe?” he asked, threateningly. SpaceX boss Elon Musk responded to this tweet by posting an image showing the company logo of him.
After the imposition of European sanctions on Russia, the Russian space agency Roscosmos reacted this weekend by announcing the suspension of its launches from the Kurú space base in French Guiana.
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