Independent of the outcome of the invasion of Ukraine and the state of relations between the United States and Russia, the International Space Station (ISS) likely has a limited future.
NASA has criticized the Russian space agency for staging propaganda photographs related to its invasion of Ukraine aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The photographs depict three Russian cosmonauts holding aloft the flags of two eastern Ukrainian regions captured by Russian military forces, prompting the US space agency to issue a “strong reprimand.”
NASA branded the prank as “fundamentally inconsistent with the station’s principal goal of advancing science and developing technology for peaceful purposes among 15 international partner countries.”
Despite the intensifying terrestrial dispute between Washington and Moscow, cooperation in low-Earth orbit has mostly continued with little opposition from the United States to its Russian allies, despite repeated threats from Roscosmos’ top executive to end cooperation.
Roscosmos published Monday images of cosmonauts hoisting the flags of the unrecognized Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic.
It is feared that political spillover from the Ukraine conflict could erode the international cooperation required to keep the International Space Station in orbit and astronauts safe.
NASA previously told that despite heated exchanges and deteriorating relations on Earth, Russia and the United States will continue to cooperate on the International Space Station.
“There are truly no tensions within the crew,” stated ISS program manager Joel Montalbano.
RIA Novosti, which is controlled by the Russian government, uploaded a video on social media depicting NASA astronaut Mark T. Vande Hei being abandoned on the space station by cosmonauts.
When the video was retweeted by Dmitry Rogozin, the chairman of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, concerns escalated.
It was one of several sarcastic tweets issued by the Russian space head to US and European colleagues after the imposition of sanctions.
The conclusion of ISS
Regardless of the outcome of the invasion of Ukraine and the state of relations between the United States and Russia, the ISS undoubtedly has a limited future.
NASA has revealed plans for removing the 444,615-kilogram structure from orbit in January 2031 and crashing it into a “spacecraft cemetery” in the most inaccessible location on Earth.
The Commercial Crew Programme is part of NASA’s efforts to assist the private sector in gaining a presence in space, ultimately resulting in the replacement of the orbiting laboratory by a series of commercial space stations.
In an ideal situation, the space station’s orbital altitude will gradually decrease from its current 408 kilometers (253 miles).
As the ISS descends in altitude, it will face a more dense environment, which will increase drag and pull it even lower.
The space station will continue to fly at such a high velocity that it will begin to heat up and release debris in a trail behind it.
To prevent this debris from harming people or property, the ISS is scheduled to crash into an uninhabited region of the South Pacific Ocean at Point Nemo.
Point Nemo has been dubbed a “spacecraft cemetery” because, as the point on Earth farthest from any land, decommissioned spacecraft often aim for it while returning to Earth.
