The Ukraine crisis reached into space yesterday as NASA confirmed that it is cutting ties with the Russian space program. With the exception of continued cooperation aimed at keeping the International Space Station (ISS) operating, the agency says that in response to Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, it will no longer participate with its Russian counterparts on projects, bilateral visits or communications.
NASA has been carrying on bilateral relations with Russia since the early 1990s. In order to improve relations after the fall of communism and the collapse of the USSR, and to provide jobs for Russian rocket scientists to keep them from seeking work with unfriendly powers, Russia was invited to become a full partner in the ISS; providing not only modules, but also Soyuz and Progress space capsules to ferry crews and carry cargo to and from the station. However, geopolitics back on Earth have radically altered that relationship in a very short time,
On Wednesday morning, The Verge revealed a leaked memo that had come into its possession stating that, "Given Russia's ongoing violation of Ukraine¹s sovereignty and territorial integrity, until further notice, the US Government has determined that all NASA contacts with Russian Government representatives are suspended, unless the activity has been specifically excepted."
The memo went on to say that this ban included travel by NASA personnel to Russia, visits by Russian government officials to NASA facilities, meetings, email, teleconferences, and videoconferences. The only exceptions to this ban are ISS operations and multilateral meetings outside of Russia involving other nations.
Last night, NASA released a statement confirming the contents of the memo saying that, "NASA is suspending the majority of its ongoing engagements with the Russian Federation. NASA and Roscosmos will, however, continue to work together to maintain safe and continuous operation of the International Space Station."
The statement goes on to state that the aim of this ban signals a change in NASA policy, which will now target funding at launching manned spacecraft from US territory, and that the Obama administration is encouraging Congress to provide additional funding. This follows a NATO statement on Monday saying that the Alliance is suspending all civilian and military cooperation with Russia.
The effects of this ban will make NASA’s manned spaceflight program problematical for the next few years. After the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, NASA astronauts became completely dependent on the Russian Soyuz capsules for traveling to the space station, with a ticket price of US$70.6 million per seat. Even though NASA is developing the Orion deep-space vehicle and several private companies are working on manned spacecraft for shuttling to the ISS, they are still years away from going into full service.
In addition, the ban will also mean NASA and its vendors will have to rethink launch vehicles designed to use Russian components for which replacements will have to be found.
Sources: NASA
NASA should not be in the rocket building business, companies like Space X can bring whatever NASA may need to space, for a far better price tag. For now, Russia may think that they have the US over a barrel when it comes to our astronauts getting into space, but they don't. Space X's Dragon capsule, is pressurized and safe enough for people, and could be quickly converted if we were in an absolute pinch. But since were not, theirs no point in looking into it, since the manned version of the dragon is a little over a year away.
The shuttles were clearly long in the tooth, and an un-safe design to begin with. Bush put NASA in the direction of the Constellation program, which Obama changed much of it in 09', and then he also under funded the whole thing, and now the Orion spacecraft isn't even expected to have a manned version of it in space before 2020!
Government in general is a massive waste of tax money, they are no longer needed to launch people into space, and should no longer attempt to. Russia may look like the top dog in space right now, but their entire space agency is rusting away. While the US has Space X, which is breaking the mold, and pushing space access innovations further then Russia could have ever hoped for.
Doesn't matter that the shuttle was "long in the tooth." If that was the only criterion, why are the astronauts now flying on the even older Soyuz platform?
SpaceX? It'll be years before that's man-rated. You're really looking at them through rose-colored glasses.
You got it right Mr. Master. It's just a lot of pompous posturing, but most of it is coming from the US. The Russians have an extensive space experience, and practically, they can do whatever NASA and profit-driven SpaceX can do at a lower cost. An example of their resourcefulness is the Antonov 225. A workhorse of a cargo plane that can do whatever a Boeing C6 can do, with a bare-bones set up that is very reliable and economic. This is the Russian character.
America's attitude is polarizing the world. They're going broke (17 trillion and counting) but they still over-extend themselves internationally, like a player at a casino who's deep in the red, keeps committing himself to higher bets and refusing to back off and cut his losses. One hopes that the USA will get it's act together and stop the outsourcing of jobs and all that military spending, but it looks like their plan is to stay in the war business to keep ahead of the curve.
Besides, Russia has been working with China in many areas including space, and why shouldn't they? Yup, the world is getting polar and it need not be this way.
Talking politics on Gizmag?
If you recall a decade or so ago when the ISS was constructed and Russia wasn't able to deliver its modules on time. So bad the delay was the other partner countries were planning to kick it out of ISS. You say that "Russians can do whatever NASA and profit-driven SpaceX can do at a lower cost". Do you have data to back it up?
We will never know how far space exploration/exploitation would have advanced in a free world or even in a free American. Perhaps starships would be a fact, not a dream. Taxation/regulation has almost killed the world market.
I supported the U.S. space program in the sixties because I knew the money would be wasted somewhere and I thought it was the lessor of evils. That was a mistake. The principles involved should never be compromised or suspended. Taxation is theft. It is theft no matter how the money is spent. No good can come of it in the long run, and it is difficult to predict the long run. For example, the West loved Hitler in the '30s. He was Time's "Man of the Year". Hundreds of thousands attended support rallies in the U.S. Fascism was the craze. Germany was rebuilt/armed by U.S./British banks, not supermen. Hitler and his platform of nationalism and national security justifies totalitarianism was supported as a "necessary evil" by the German people, including German Jews who claimed, "I'm a citizen first, a Jew second." It looked like Germany would be the new dominate empire, in the short/medium run.
How did sacrificing human rights to national security work out for Nazi Germany?
What has U.S. spending programs done to our economy? Or the world's governments spending done to the world economy?
SpaceX and others are making some headway because (1) they are backed by some very wealthy people, (2) the humanity knows it could be done.
So, no, government shouldn't be in busyness of running airlines, or car companies, or ferrying astronauts. But basic research - private companies frankly suck at it. They are very good at commoditizing it (look at GPS), but not at starting it.