Following the multiple sanctions imposed on Moscow, Russia's space agency chief has warned the United States that the sanctions could "destroy our cooperation" on the International Space Station (ISS) and asked Washington if it wants to threaten India and China with the "possibility of a 500-tonne structure falling" on them. Russia and the US are the major partners in the ISS programme, which also includes Canada, Japan and several European nations like France, Italy and Spain.
The US and its allies have decided to block assets of four large Russian banks, impose export controls and sanction oligarchs close to Russian President Vladimir Putin after he ordered a "special military operation" against Ukraine on Thursday. Following US President Joe Biden's announcement of new sanctions on Thursday that "will degrade" Russia's "aerospace industry, including their space programme", Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin on Friday tweeted that ISS orbit and location in space are controlled by Russian engines, the CNN reported.
"If you block cooperation with us, who will save the International Space Station (ISS) from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or...Europe?" Rogozin tweeted in Russian.
He said there is also the "possibility of a 500-tonne structure falling on India and China."
"Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS does not fly over Russia, therefore all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?," the Russian space agency chief asked.
One of his tweets read, "Do you want to destroy our cooperation on the ISS?," according to New York-based astronomy news website space.com. The Russian segment of the ISS is responsible for guidance, navigation and control for the entire complex. And Russian Progress cargo craft provide periodic orbit-raising boosts for the ISS, to ensure that it doesn't sink too low into Earth's atmosphere, it said.
NASA on Friday shrugged off public comments from the head of its Russian counterpart suggesting U.S. sanctions imposed against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis could "destroy" U.S.-Russian teamwork on the International Space Station (ISS).
Dmitry Rogozin, director-general of Russian space agency Roscosmos, took to Twitter on Thursday denouncing new constraints on high-tech exports to Russia that U.S. President Joe Biden said were designed to "degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program."
"Do you want to destroy our cooperation on the ISS?" Rogozin asked in a series of tweets, according to a Reuters translation of his remarks. He also noted that orbital control of the space station, through periodic rocket thrusts to maintain a safe altitude, is exercised using engines of a Russian cargo craft docked to the ISS.
"If you block cooperation with us, then who is going to save the ISS from an uncontrolled descent from orbit and then falling onto the territory of the United States or Europe?" he wrote. "There is also a scenario where the 500-ton structure falls on India or China. Do you want to threaten them with this prospect? The ISS doesn't fly over Russia, so all the risks are yours."
(With inputs from agencies)
