The ISS currently houses two Russians, four Americans and one German.
NASA reiterated that the collaboration between the United States and Russia on the International Space Station ( ISS ) continues as normal despite.
The extreme tension linked to the war in Ukraine , and stated that an American astronaut would return to Earth as planned at the end of month aboard a Russian ship.
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, 55, prepares to return from the ISS in a Soyuz spacecraft on March 30, after 355 days in space, a new record for an American. The spacecraft will land in Kazakhstan and will also bring back Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov.
“I can tell you for sure that Mark will be back on board this Soyuz ,” Joel Montalbano, station program manager for NASA, said Monday. “Our Russian colleagues have confirmed that they are prepared to bring back the full crew.”
Despite the tension between Washington and Moscow, the two countries will continue to work together to ensure the operation of the ISS.
“Nothing has changed in the last three weeks,” said Joel Montalbano. “The control centers are still running smoothly.”
Despite threats
This weekend, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, declared that Western sanctions against Russia could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft and cause the fall of the ISS.
The thrusters of the Russian ships moored to the station are used to correct the orbit of the space structure. A procedure that is carried out about ten times a year to keep it at the right altitude, or to avoid space debris in its path.
Americans alone do not have this ability, Joel Montalbano confirmed. “The Space Station was designed on the principle of interdependence … it is not a process where one group can separate from another.”
“Currently, there is no indication that our Russian partners want to do things differently. Therefore, we plan to continue operations as we do today,” he said.
In addition, he confirmed that the exchange scheduled for the fall (a Russian cosmonaut sent to the ISS with a SpaceX spacecraft and a NASA astronaut with a Soyuz) is still on the table.
The ISS currently houses two Russians, four Americans and one German.
“Are they aware of what is happening on Earth? Absolutely,” Montalbano said. But the astronauts are “professionals” and “there’s no tension between the crew. They’ve been trained to do a job and they’re up there doing it.” ( AFP )
