Is It Time To Cast Off Russia? Or Are They Leaving?
Opinion: Our space partnership with Russia can’t go on, Opinion, Homer Hickam, Washington Post
“The Russians, however, have not reacted in the same spirit. Dmitry Rogozin, the belligerent chief of the Russian federal space agency known as Roscosmos, has made clear that he fully supports the invasion and has even made threats toward his ISS partners, including invoking nuclear war. He has also indicated he is willing to abandon the ISS, in a recent tweet expressing the hope it would crash into the United States or Europe.
In nearly every arena, the Biden administration has imposed harsh sanctions on Russia. The space station should not be immune. It’s time to end our well-intentioned partnership with Russia — even if, as seems almost certain, it would mean the early closing and decommissioning of the space station.”
Frankly the Russian equipment seems to be getting more unreliable. It would be addition by subtraction.
“Dear Russian Space Agency:
When your leadership can stop its ass-kissing of Putin, and horrific crimes against humanity, we might be interested in positive space collaboration and exploration.
Killing innocent children and civilian families does not entitle your country to participate in any program of peace. There is no place in a future Starfleet for your kind of so-called “civilization “.
Until then, do us a favor, take your segment of the ISS, and leave.
We will get along just fine without the treacherous, evil, autocratic and dictatorial drag Russia puts on the rest of Mankind’s effort to inherit the stars, while you break rocks in a cave for comfort.
Keith Vauquelin”
Agreed with the article. Get them out of here. Either negotiate their departure or plan for an early deorbit. The status quo is unacceptable given Russia’s actions in Ukraine. No area of our relationship should be off limits.
Peaceful exploration of space with people who shell and bombard cities before looting it and attacking women and children, because they cannot win on the battlefield against the Ukrainian Army? Yeah that’s not happening. I want us to explore space. But I don’t want it that much.
Again, get them out here.
Certainly don’t cooperate with those promoting this filthy war. But you cannot assume all Roscosmos members support it. Whatever Rogozin says, there may well be those against it but in no position to express it. There needs to be some way of working with them eventually. If Putin is “relieved of duties”, Rogozin might be removed as well. Such political changes are not unheard-of in space agencies.
Absolutely do not de-orbit ISS. It’s not just about Russia, there are the US and other countries and the labour of many involved in it. It’s still an example of cooperation. IF ISS is split, they could still use SpaceX and maybe ESA vehicles to give it a boost. Owing to the lower mass, that would actually be easier.
Another thing: suppose it’s separated, and then there is a sufficient change in Russian politics including an end to the war. Would it be possible to re-connect the parts again? They presumably would remain in roughly similar orbits.
The United States partnership in space isn’t with Roscosmos. it’s with Russia, just as Russia’s partnership in space is not with NASA,but with the United States. Roscosmos and NASA are functional organs of the entities who make up the partnership. They are not, and will not be, independent.
It is that Russia that as we speak is committing acts of wonton barbarism in Ukraine. So yes, end the partnership.
Will this end the careers of people at Roscosmos who don’t support the war? Yes. And I don’t care. And America should not care either. Because our partnership is not with them. It is with Russia. If they want to continue working in space, they can defect from Russia to the EU or the US.
Putin will not be relieved of his duties anymore than he’s lost his mind. That is a fantasy by some in the West who are having trouble processing the world that has changed and will not be going back the way it was. Putin has done something unprecedented in modern times, but entirely normal in the broad swathe of history. He’s going to be with us for another 15 or 20 years.
It will take decades to get back to where we were with Russia. It’s not just the politics that has to change. Mere withdrawal from Ukraine won’t be enough. There will need to be a massive de-Putinization of the entire country and a fundamental change in its culture about how it views Europe, that has not changed in 300 years. We’re talking something larger the fall of the Soviet Union because the dream of Russian imperialism long predates even that dead empire. The Russian Federation must not give way to a fourth form of that empire that still dreams of expansion. The dream ends here.
My preference would be to not de-orbit the station (and certainly, never reconnect with the Russian segment), but that’s a small price to pay for ending our partnership. The station is important. It is not important enough to keep our partnership with Russia going just so we can hang on to it. In the end, it’s just a thing that cost money. Things that cost money can be replaced. Our principles and moral characters are supposed to be priceless. It’s high time we act on it.
So I repeat myself: get them out of here.
AND THEN WHAT??
With all due respect to Mr. Hickam, this is the worst idea ever. The ISS is the only positive component of leverage that we have right now with Russia, and we should just discard it out of outrage over the actions of one man and his armed forces, and the silly words of another? Seriously??
Let’s take a wildly hypothetical scenario: We “cancel” Russian participation in the program (and from a practical standpoint, what if they refuse to leave? What are we going to do, lock the hatch between the USOC and the Russian segment and turn off the power?), and the war ends next week. Let’s even postulate, for grins, that there has been regime change in Moscow, with a commensurate change in the way that regime interacts with the international community.
Notwithstanding the expected commentary about the bleak prospects for the Russian human space program, wouldn’t it be better to maintain some level of engagement with those sectors in Russia who find value in cooperative scientific and exploration endeavors, for that time in the future when the world begins to heal and we can all get back to exploration for the benefit of “all” humankind?
I’m no apologist for the behavior of the Russian leadership or armed forces and I am incredibly saddened by what is happening in Ukraine, but where was Homer Hickam when the Russians were indiscriminately bombing Aleppo and other Syrian villages? Where was Homer Hickam during the first and second chechen wars? Are Muslim Syrian and Chechen mothers and babies considered less valuable than Christian Ukrainian mothers and babies?
So yes, be outraged at the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine, and place the blame where it belongs (and we all know where that that vector is), but the vindictiveness here borders on hypocrisy.
Just sayin’
I don’t believe I received “all due respect” from your commentary but I was entertained by it.
“It’s time to end our well-intentioned partnership with Russia — even if, as seems almost certain, it would mean the early closing and decommissioning of the space station.””
Define an “early closing” ? what date do you suggest we decommission it?
Homer, you hit the nail on the head.
Once the Russians leave the ISS with their hardware in tow, I’ll bet a month of my income that Elon Musk and SpaceX will step up, announce “до свидания” to the sore losers, and have a Starship-based replacement waiting in the wings for managing the former duties of the Russians.
And, in a far less expensive and far more capable format.
Let the Russians go. America and the world is far better off without them further screwing up the works for our civilization’s inheritance of the stars. I do not wish to live in a cave of my own creation.
I hope the ISS partnership continues until the planned decommission. But:
1. No more US$ 90 million taxi seats;
2. No more lucrative western commercial launches from russian rockets;
3. No access to western components to russian rockets
4. Russian economy in free fall.
If the situation continues this way, Roscosmos can simply declare they’re out of the ISS for political reasons, but indeed because they are not capable to afford participating of ISS anymore.
Angara? Soyuz 2? Oriol? Russian engineers leaving the country? Well…
At a very minimum, that ridiculous “seat swap” scheme NASA cooked up to fly a Cosmonaut on a Crew Dragon so it can maintain Soyuz seat access “as a backup” should not go forward. It was a hairbrained attempt to circumvent Congress refusing to buy any more Soyuz seats. It shows how some people at NASA have the wrong priorities. They need to be fired from the agency.
I mean, just think about how crazy the scheme is. First, it is yet another symptom of NASA’s overzealous approach to redundancy. Right now, Crew Dragon flies. By the end of the year, Starliner will fly. There are two American options. But to NASA, that’s not good enough. Now they want a second backup in more Soyuz seats, even though that Soyuz seat wouldn’t be used until after Starliner flies. “Assured access to space” requiring double redundancy like that is ludicrous.
Second, it is a clear end-run around Congress’ wishes for how NASA get astronauts to space. What was the point of commercial crew again? To explicitly not do this. Some NASA officials need to be reminded who they work for. NASA is not a private company or a charity. It exists to follow the instructions of Congress and the President to implement the country’s space agenda, not their own vision. They don’t get to have a vision. Nobody elected them to use our tax dollars. They were hired to act on behalf of us, authorized by the people we do elect. So this crew swap seat idea? It’s a middle finger to the people who pay the bills.
You’re missing the whole point of the seat swapping arrangement. First, there is zero chance that Starliner will be finished with its tests and be ready for operational use within a year. More importantly, there is a requirement for ISS to have enough vehicles docked with ISS to evacuate the crew if necessary. In the case of a medical emergency, that means all the people with seats on a particular capsule have to leave if one of them has to get back to Earth in a hurry. ISS operations have two capsules docked, long term, with it. One Dragon and one Soyuz. Those factors, in combination, mean that you need seat swapping, or run the risk of having no US astronauts on ISS. Given the situation in Ukraine, I (or you) might say that’s a risk worth taking. But people within NASA who disagree aren’t being stupid or incompetent. They’re just assessing the situation and the risks differently.
Yeah. And they’ve assed wrong. You’re right, it’s absolutely a risk worth taking. Russia’s actions in Ukraine should put an end even to this practice. Or we could just pay SpaceX to keep another Crew Dragon docked if we need that medical evacuation vehicle until Starliner is up in running. Whatever the solution, do not use a Russian option.
Congress needs to stop this seat swap nonsense before some NASA official, trying to (wrongly) insulate space from the early politics us poor Earthbound saps are stuck with, tries to push it forward. And then it needs to push for the dismissal whoever is left at NASA still pushing it (since the swap plan started under the prior administration).
Again, whatever the justification, it’s unconscionable it would go forward from so many angles and the NASA officials making that assessment need to not be NASA officials anymore. American policy towards Russia is crystal clear given the massive war crimes going on hourly in Ukraine, and if they think they can sidestep it to protect their space agenda, they need to be removed.
I think one of the major reason we partnered with the Russian’s, was there larger amount of hands on experience in the care and feeding of space stations. And we did not want to gain all that experience the hard way. We now have that experience.
I’d take Homer’s suggestion but instead decouple the US segment and find a way to reboost it and extend it as an independent Internation station without the Russian segment. Yes I know that’s tricky, but if possible it should be attempted.
Certainly it’s warranted but maybe not the best thing to do, at least not at this time. Sanctions are designed to exert pressure on the regime, besides just being a method of protest. Although unfortunately many of the sanctions affect the Russian people also. Then again they ostensibly voted Putin in, depending on how legitimate the elections were. But either way much of the Russian population is only now having their eyes opened to the true nature of their current leader. It seems to be more than in times past that many of them aren’t falling for the official party line blaming their current and potential future suffering on outside countries, but instead many of them now realize who is actually responsible.
Kicking Russia out of ISS would certainly send a message, but financially would create little pain to the regime, may even save them some money. And Putin clearly has no concern about losing whatever little prestige they had remaining by their participation in the program. He is only interested in demonstrating raw power, that’s the only prestige that he seems to care about.
I agree there is no reason to give them any handouts like we used to, or cooperate beyond existing agreements. The problem is that I think world opinion might view the U.S. ending cooperation with the Russians on ISS as more tit for tat, i.e. sinking down to Rogozin’s level, rather than as a legitimate exertion of pressure. Let Russia be the ones to show that they are no longer interested in peaceful non-military ventures. Not that anyone would be surprised.
“Let Russia be the ones to show that they are no longer interested in peaceful non-military ventures.”
You may get your wish. Rogozin has threatened to strand US astronaut Mark Hei at the station.
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/r…
I figure Elon willl come to the rescue if that happens but still…
It’s hard to take that threat seriously. Rogozin and the Russians have to know there would be no way back after an action like that, and Russia needs dollars far more than the US needs Russia as a partner in space. I suspect the Russians also know that China is going to be far less generous with its money vis a vis any cooperation in space with Russia.
One last message for Rogozin, and his RSA minions who read NASAWatch.
We are calling your bluff. Take your part of the ISS and go away. Please.
You and your organization set no standard America will bear, or example we will follow.
Your country has committed crimes against humanity.
For this reason, your country deserves the cave you’ve created for yourselves.
до свидания и скатерти.
Astronaut Mark vandi hei is to return at the end of this month after $355 days in space it’d be nice if Nassau could keep them up there 13 more days than he could establish a record for a non cosmonaut. That would break the titov-manarev of a 1988. It’s Sad NASA doesn’t have the backbone the Russians do on long duration flight will better than 20 years ago still. I remember NASA in 2002 said they didn’t want Peggy woodson till break the expedition for record because of what long duration flight does to the human body I think NASA should have had some medical personnel put in a mental ward being told American astronauts aren’t going to be any more sicker than Russians. It’d be nice if we could have our own space station without the Russians and the Russians could go back to what they used to be . If Colonel vand hei were to be the last American to land in a soyuz would be good for him to go out with a bang. I do think though they’re more scientific benefits to having worked with the Russians all this time compared to doing just science aboard the mostly crappy space shuttle. During Donald Trump’s early 2020 impeachment I’m surprised no one talked about ending American Russian space cooperation as far as a punishment to the Russians on having tried to have interfered in the 2016 elections
If they leave crew on ISS or detain him upon return its time to end the partnership . The Russian’s should be excluded for the foreseeable future.