NASA crisis as Russia threatens to totally abandon ISS – and even crash it into US
dailystar.co.ukRussia has put NASA on red alert after threatening to abandon an US astronaut stuck on the International Space Sation who was due to hitch a ride back to earth on a Soyuz spacecraft.In late February the agency had confirmed that collaborative operations between it and the Russian space agency will still go on, despite the rapidly escalating tensions between their two countries.“The International Space Station team is continuing to safely conduct research operations in low-Earth orbit,” a spokesperson said.
But now, head of the Russian Space Agency, Dmitry Rogozin, sent a warning that Russia may abandon Mark Vande Hei, the US astronaut aboard the ISS.
Mr Rogozin posted a threatening video on social media casting doubt over the astronaut's safety. He was due to come home on a Russian spacecraft in three weeks.He also warned that without the help from Russia to move the ISS away from space junk, the station would crash into the US.Former US astronaut Scott Kelly has reacted furiously to the threat.He told ABC News: "I never thought I would hear anything so outrageous."But Mr Kelly was not convinced about Russia's threat to the safety of Americans.He said: "I think it is just a crazy threat.
It is not really based on reality."We do have the ability to control the orbit of the space station independent of the Russian space agency, so I don't really see that happening."The ISS is currently split into two sections.There is the Russian Orbital Segment controlled by Russia, and the United States Orbital Segment operated by the U.S.Howard McCurdy, an expert on space policy at American University, said the situation is "like a divorced couple trying to live in the same house.""You can do it, it is just not very easy.
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