Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine crisis could have consequences for the International Space Station (ISS), a permanent laboratory in space where Russia, the United States, and some other countries like Japan, Canada, France, Italy and Spain work as partners. But Russia and the US are the main partners in the ISS programme.
The Russian Invasion Touches the Space
In a threatening series, the chief of Russian space agency Dimitry Rogozin warned that Russia could react to the US sanctions by letting the ISS fall from space. He said that International Space Station have around 420-tonne spacecraft, the most considerable man-made structure in space could drop over the US or Europe, or over China and India. Its orbital flight path generally does not take over most Russian provinces. According to the New York-based astronomy news website space.com, one of his tweets read, “Do you want to demolish our cooperation on the ISS?” according to the New York-based astronomy news website space.com.
In reaction, NASA administrator Bill Nelson did not counter directly. The agency said in a statement: “NASA continues working with all our international partners”— as well as Roscosmos, the Russian space agency—”for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station.”
International Space Station (ISS)
The International Space Station is the merely operational space laboratory that orbits the earth about 400 km above land. More than 15 partner countries operate it. Other than Russia and the United States, Canada, Japan, and several members of the European Space Agency are partners in the ISS.
The approximate size of ISS is about football ground, and its travels speed is about 28,000 km per hour. It takes one and half hours to finish its journey around the earth. In one day, it makes about 16 trips around the world. Presently, four astronauts from the United States, two from Russia and one from Germany, are at ISS.
Russians feel the pain of international sanctions.
The sanctions now hitting Russia are described as an economic war. Western nations aim to isolate the country and create a deep downturn there. And the present conflict does have the potential to affect space cooperation in other ways.
Edited by- Subbuthai Padma
Published by- Radhika. N
