Russia’s involvement in the ISS, and NASA’s praise of its Roscosmos colleagues, are an insult to Ukraine and Western entities that have sacrificed so much in coming to its aid. This dual-provider solution ensures access to the ISS and negates any claimed technical need for cross-capability on Russian taxi rides. commercial alternatives: the SpaceX Dragon that is already flying and Boeing’s Starliner that’s on the way. NASA bartered for more Soyuz seats despite the availability of U.S. On July 15, NASA doubled down on collaboration with Putin’s government with a new “seat swap” agreement on U.S. In fact, in words and deeds, NASA appears to be heading in the opposite direction.
NASA leadership, however, appears unlikely to advocate such a course of action. NASA and its other partners should now formalize Russia’s departure date and outline the steps for achieving Russia’s overdue exit. Russia is not a partner in peace and will not be for years, if not decades, to come. should accept the announcement at face value and direct NASA to prepare for Russia’s departure instead of trying to keep the marriage intact through 2030. Whatever the intent behind Borisov’s cagily worded pledge to leave, the U.S. While Borisov’s successor, Dmitry Rogozin, had conditioned Russia’s participation in ISS beyond 2024 on lifting Western sanctions, NASA has sought to keep Roscosmos at the table while the 15-nation partnership formalizes an extension to 2030. “We will definitely fulfill all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to withdraw from this station after 2024 has been made,” Yuri Borisov, the newly appointed head of Russia’s space agency, told Putin, according to July 26 state media reports that quickly made international news. Russia has since made that decision easier, telegraphing its intent to leave the ISS program after its current commitment ends in 2024 rather than stick around until the end of the decade as NASA and the other partners intend to do. “I truly hope that we will someday return to cooperation in a post-Putin Russia, but for now, NASA and other partner nations must make the tough decision to begin the process of disengagement. “The costs of our partnership with Russia on the ISS are now unfortunately much higher than the few remaining benefits,“ Virts wrote in a July opinion piece for The Hill. “If they haven’t already, NASA needs to begin the process of severing ties.”įormer ISS commander and retired NASA astronaut Terry Virts recently made similar points. “NASA is on a very short list of entities still in public partnership with Russia - even Starbucks, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have stopped doing business with the regime… We can’t ignore that Roscosmos is now part of Putin’s war machine,” noted Ann Kapusta, executive director of the Space Frontier Foundation, in March. Doing so lends Putin’s regime a highly undeserved place of respect and undermines all the other efforts to defend Ukraine and the West from Russia.
While the Western world and much of the global space industry severed ties with Russia over the war, NASA’s administrator and key managers for the International Space Station have continued to embrace the pariah state as a valued partner. Two historically neutral countries – Sweden and Finland – are now working to join NATO, bringing the alliance to long stretches of the Russian border.īut at NASA, it has been business as usual. NATO countries have sent billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment and assistance to repel Russian invaders and help Ukraine survive a fight unsought and undeserved. Businesses and governments have abandoned partnerships and trade at the cost of billions of dollars. 24, there has been a sea change in the West’s dealings with Russia. Since Vladimir Putin launched his war of conquest and genocide against Ukraine on Feb.
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