9
$\begingroup$

I realise this question may be shut down as opinion-based, but here goes anyway.

With diplomatic relations in the toilet following Russian military activity in Ukraine, how will this affect future operations on the International Space Station? Will we see a situation like the one in the film 2010 where the Soviet and American crews were ordered not to interact with each other? And how about the upcoming missions?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
17
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I think there is a good, factually answerable question in here (if only from a Western perspective) $\endgroup$
    – BrendanLuke15
    Commented Feb 24, 2022 at 12:16
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ This can have fact-based answers that draw from whatever did or didn't happen in 2014 for example, so voting to leave open $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Feb 24, 2022 at 12:52
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Contrary to @uhoh, I am voting to close. (And once again, you cannot vote to leave open. You can only not vote to close.) As of now, there is no telling what the outcome will be. The question is unanswerable at this moment. $\endgroup$
    – David Hammen
    Commented Feb 24, 2022 at 13:04
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I’m voting to close this question because this is a current event for which the outcome is highly uncertain. It might become more clear in a week or even month from now, but as it stands, the question as of now is unanswerable. $\endgroup$
    – David Hammen
    Commented Feb 24, 2022 at 13:05
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @DavidHammen that's a made-up close reason in my opinion, but you can always leave an answer to What's best to do about questions that might not be answerable for a few months? $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Feb 24, 2022 at 13:36

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5
$\begingroup$

The general answer here is... it probably won't change much. The ISS has been around since 1998. Since then Russia has invaded the Republic of Georgia (2008) and seized Crimea from Ukraine (2014). NASA put out this statement in regards to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine

"NASA continues working with all our international partners, including the State Space Corporation Roscosmos, for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station. The new export control measures will continue to allow U.S.-Russia civil space cooperation. No changes are planned to the agency’s support for ongoing in orbit and ground station operations," NASA said in a statement today that agency spokesperson Joshua Finch emailed to Space.com.

Will we see a situation like the one in the film 2010 where the Soviet and American crews were ordered not to interact with each other?

There's a key difference here. In the movie, you have a separate Soviet spacecraft and an American spacecraft. Neither had to interact with the other to function (fun fact: it was a Soviet mission to the American spacecraft that got them there in the first place).

The ISS has both American and Russian components and you need both parts to make the ISS work

"The Russian segment can't function without the electricity on the American side, and the American side can't function without the propulsion systems that are on the Russian side," former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman told CNN. "So you can't do an amicable divorce. You can't do a conscious uncoupling."

All of this relies on there not being a "hot" war (i.e. both sides are fighting with one another). If that were to happen, I would say the worst-case scenario would be one side abandoning its part of the ISS. That wouldn't immediately threaten the ISS (both sides can send personnel and supplies up by themselves), but the lack of ongoing support for the other end could hamper its operation.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
4

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.