Space: the conflict in Ukraine threatens the ISS

The space station international couldshe fall? “In theory yes“, answers the journalist Nabila Stoolpresent on the set of 12/13, Saturday March 12. Russians “ensure that the station’s orbit is corrected, to prevent it from falling but also to avoid space debris”. Without the Russian cargo ships, theISS could fall to pieces on Earth. Sunlikely scenario according to experts, because the Russians do not own any other space stations, and do not have the means to build a new one. What’s more, “destroying the ISS would cut them off from all access to space“, too important an issue for Vladimir Putin.

However, Russian cosmonauts have already received the order to stop scientific experiments with a German astronaut. “In reaction to European sanctions, Russia recalled the hundred engineers who worked in Guyana“, continues the journalist. The launch of the Russian-European mission ExoMars is also impacted by the conflict. “It was supposed to take place next September, but the end of the collaboration clearly threatens it“, she concludes.