Russia Will Quit International Space Station Over Sanctions
Russia space agency head says partners to get 12 months notice
Agency had earlier this month threated to end ISS missions
The International Space Station (ISS) is seen on a monitor.
Photographer: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images
Bloomberg News
Rogozin earlier this monththreatenedto end Russia’s mission unless the U.S., European Union and Canada lifted sanctions against enterprises involved in the Russian space industry.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin visit the “Space” pavilion at the VDNH exhibition center in Moscow in 2018.
Maxim Shipenkov/AFP/Getty Images
The orbital research space station had until the war remained a rare area of cooperation between Russia and the U.S. and its allies despite steadily worsening relations. But Russia’s unprecedented international isolation since it invaded Ukraine in February has marked the demise of this symbol of joint space exploration.
Three Americans and an Italian astronautdockedat the space station on Wednesday, joining three other Americans, three Russians and a German already on the ISS.
NASA, which plans to operate the space station through 2030, has continued to use Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the ISS since retiring shuttles in 2011. The U.S. space agency is now relying more on private space flights. Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the four astronauts for NASA and the European Space Agency on Wednesday.
