Could tension over Russia-Ukraine war reach International Space Station? What to know

Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on three fronts early Thursday, Feb. 24, “bombarding cities, towns and villages” as forces advanced toward the capital of Kyiv.

“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” President Joe Biden said in a statement announcing sanctions against Russia, CNN reported.

Many are now wondering how the conflict on Earth will affect the collaboration between Russia and the U.S. on the International Space Station.

Here is what we know.

For the partnership between Russia and the U.S. to fall apart, there would have to be “very significant warfare between the nations back on Earth,” David Burbach, a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island, told Space.com.

President Biden announced on Feb. 24 that he was “authorizing additional strong sanctions and new limitations on what can be exported to Russia.”

“We estimate that we’ll cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports. It will strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize their military. It’ll degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program,” he said of the actions of the U.S. and its “allies and partners”.

NASA and Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, operate the International Space Station together.

Roscosmos’ Director General Dmitry Rogozin took to Twitter to respond to the new sanctions.

“Do you want to destroy our collaboration on the ISS?” he asked. “This is how you already do it by limiting exchanges between our cosmonaut and astronaut training centers. Or do you want to manage the ISS yourself?”

“If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or Europe?” he continued. “There is also the option of dropping a 500-ton structure to India and China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS does not fly over Russia, so all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?”

In a statement to McClatchy News, NASA said it “continues working with all our international partners, including the State Space Corporation Roscosmos, for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station. The new export control measures will continue to allow U.S.-Russia civil space cooperation. No changes are planned to the agency’s support for ongoing in orbit and ground station operations.”

Roscosmos also told McClatchy News it “continues fulfilling its international obligations to ensure ISS operation; work is also underway on the integrated crew flights agreement.”

This is not the first time that the space station has overcome conflicts between Russia and the U.S., The Verge reported.

According to The Associated Press, “four NASA astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts and one European astronaut are currently on the space station.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Could tension over Russia-Ukraine war reach International Space Station? What to know."