Despite a few hiccups at the start of the conflict, cooperation between Roscosmos and Western space agencies continues against all odds.
The international crew of the Soyuz MS-24 mission which took off from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) on Friday September 15 took part in the traditional pre-mission photo. In the background, the Star-Spangled Banner stands next to the Russian tricolor. In the front row, American engineer Loral O’Hara, Russian commander Oleg Kononeko and Russian flight engineer Nikolai Tchoub pose side by side, all smiles, in spacesuits.
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This cordial understanding displayed contrasts with the frosty diplomatic relations between Moscow and Washington since the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Despite the terrestrial disputes between Westerners and Russians, the International Space Station remains one of the rare subjects of understanding between the two powers.
After eighteen months of international sanctions, and while a large part of the programs planned between the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, and Western space powers have been abandoned or suspended, Russia’s participation in the exploitation of International Space Station (ISS) seems guaranteed. This partnership has been “designed on solid foundations”says researcher Paul Wohrer, specialist in space issues at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri).
Tensions that have eased
The war had almost immediate effects between Moscow and Western space agencies on ongoing cooperation. On February 27, 2022, just a few days after the adoption of the first set of sanctions by the European Union against Russia, Roscosmos decided to interrupt the launches of the Soyuz rocket from Kourou to put European satellites into orbit. In response, the European Space Agency (ESA) is suspending the ExoMars mission with the Russian space agency, postponing the departure of the European rover for the red planet scheduled for September 2022 to October 2028.
Despite these tensions, Russian-Western cooperation on the ISS “continues as normal”, explains Paul Wohrer. In July 2022, the United States and Russia announced the resumption of joint flights to the International Space Station and the maintenance of the astronaut exchange program between the two nations. Soyuz rockets transported Americans and Russian cosmonauts took place in American Space X capsules.
In December 2022, after an accidental escape from a ship docked with the ISS, Yuri Borissov, the head of Roscosmos, asked the Russians present on board the International Space Station to pass “hello to the whole American team” who had assisted the cosmonauts in solving this problem. “They behaved in a very dignified way in this situation and they reached out to us to help us”did he declare.
The station has always been away from “terrestrial geopolitical problems”, notes Paul Wohrer. Already in 2014, “during the annexation of Crimea and the first sanctions against Russia, this cooperation was maintained”underlines geographer Isabelle Sourbès-Verger, research director at CNRS and specialist in space policies.
A station designed to cooperate
This spatial harmony between Russians and Westerners is undoubtedly explained by the unique history of the ISS. In orbit since November 1998, the orbital station is a unique model of international collaboration. Designed as a scientific and technological laboratory, it was built in a spirit of understanding by around fifteen countries including eleven European states, Canada, Japan, the United States and Russia. More than 250 astronauts from 19 countries took part there, to carry out thousands of new scientific experiments.
Sign “of a reunification between two yesterday’s enemies” in the 1990s, the ISS was designed to be an interdependent station based on the contributions of all the countries involved. Each space power brings its pressurized module or equipment. As a result, no agency has the capacity to act independently of the others. If the Russians decide to withdraw and abandon their equipment, “he would be very complicated for Europeans, Americans and other partners to operate the ISS”illustrates Paul Wohrer.
As the BBC recalls, the Zvezeda module of the segment Russian ensures the propulsion of the station and the return to orbit of the ISS in order to prevent it from crashing on Earth. If this propulsion capacity is suspended, “the United States and its partners – Europe, Japan and Canada – will have to devise other means to periodically propel the station”, specifies Paul Wohrer. In March, Russia had already threatened to put an end to these maneuvers. And for the first time in June, a non-Russian cargo ship from the industrial company Northrop Grumman corrected and raised the orbit of the ISS by a few hundred meters.
The ISS is doomed to disappear
If Westerners cannot do without Russians, Moscow has blown hot and cold on his intentions. In July 2022, the new Director General of Roscomos, Yuri Borissov announced during a televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin Russia’s withdrawal from the ISS “after 2024” and the construction of a “Russian orbital station”. Finally, in April 2023, Russia postponed this withdrawal. During a new televised meeting with President Vladimir Putin, the head of the Russian space agency even extended the Russian segment until 2028.
At the same time, in an interview with the Reuters agency, NASA administrator Bill Nelson called for this Russian-Western collaboration to be maintained. “until the end of the decade”. The United States, Japan and the European Space Agency have thus announced the extension of the lifespan of the ISS until 2030. Operational for more than 20 years, the International Space Station will then be gradually de-orbited into the atmosphere earthly.
Until then, Russia must begin building the future Russian orbital station, called Ross. “Time flies and under no circumstances should we take a break from manned astronautics”, said Yuri Borrisov. Considered the Kremlin’s new space priority, this orbital station marks a break in Russian space policy after several decades of international cooperation. For Paul Wohrer, this decision would reflect “geopolitical tensions” terrestrial.