Even as tensions over Ukraine rise, US-Russian space cooperation continues
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
Even as tensions between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine crisis build, the longstanding collaboration between the two countries in operating the International Space Station (ISS) continues on solid footing.NASA and Roscosmos, its Russian counterpart, are still in talks about a new "crew exchange" deal some seven weeks after the Biden administration pledged to keep the ISS operational through 2030. The US space agency said that under such an agreement, the two former rivals would routinely share flights to the station on their respective spacecraft. With the new agreement, NASA astronauts will be able to fly aboard Soyuz for free in exchange for Russian cosmonauts sharing rides with US astronauts on SpaceX flights. In preparation for such a deal, NASA said three Russian cosmonauts are already training at NASA's Johnson Space Center near Houston.In mid-November, before tensions escalated in Ukraine, US-Russian space cooperation was shaken by a missile test that destroyed one of Russia's own defunct surveillance satellites in an unannounced missile test, generating a debris field in low-Earth orbit that threatened the space station.All seven members of the ISS crew, including two cosmonauts, had to take shelter in docked spaceships for two hours afterwards to prepare for a possible quick escape. NASA chief Bill Nelson slammed the anti-satellite test as "reckless." He was quoted in the Washington Post as saying the Russian space agency was likely surprised by the test and "probably just as appalled as we are."