NASA accuses Russia of politicizing house station to assist war in Ukraine

Ryan King

July 07, 09:35 PM July 07, 09:35 PM

NASA accused the Kremlin on Thursday of politicizing the Intercontinental Space Station following Russian cosmonauts rejoiced at Moscow's latest breakthroughs in eastern Ukraine.

Previously in the week, Russian area company Roscosmos posted photos of three of its cosmonauts parading a flag of the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic aboard the floating house vessel with captions celebrating the "liberation" of the Luhansk province — a transfer NASA fiercely condemned.

COSMONAUTS ABOARD Intercontinental House STATION Rejoice 'LIBERATION' OF UKRAINIAN TERRITORY

"NASA strongly rebukes Russia making use of the Global Room Station for political reasons to assistance its war against Ukraine, which is fundamentally inconsistent with the station’s most important purpose amongst the 15 intercontinental taking part international locations to advance science and create technology for peaceful functions," NASA mentioned in a assertion.

Moscow declared victory in Ukraine's Luhansk province on Sunday. The country pivoted to the Donbas area where Luhansk is situated in Could after dealing with myriad setbacks even though striving to subdue the capital city of Kyiv. The invasion of Ukraine commenced in late February.

The Donbas area is household to a big existence of separatists whom Russia backs. President Vladimir Putin's forces accomplished "whole regulate" above Lysychansk and close by municipalities in the province, Russia's protection ministry claimed.

As diplomatic relations amongst the United States and Russia proceed to degrade amid the conflict, the room organizations of the two nations have ongoing to collaborate on exploration and get the job done on the area station. NASA and Roscosmos have refrained from criticizing every other in community, generating NASA's sharp words substantial, according to Eric Berger, senior room editor at Ars Technica.

NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson has sought to conserve a functioning connection with Roscosmos, arguing the two managed to cooperate at times all through the Chilly War. He also stressed that both equally Russia and the U.S. were being essential to keep the room station functioning.

"Peaceful cooperation ongoing even right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Our space shuttle docked with the Russian room station Mir. And then we made a decision to create the Global Area Station with each other," Nelson just lately instructed German publication Der Spiegel. "Equally international locations are wanted for operations, the Russians for propulsion, the Us citizens for electricity. We will carry on to have a quite qualified connection in between cosmonauts and astronauts to retain this station alive."

In the meantime, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos who is known for his bravado, has been less guarded with his community remarks relating to house cooperation. In May, he crowed about how Russia would soon have additional nuclear firepower whilst suggesting "that aggressors speak to us additional politely."

When the war in Ukraine initial broke out, he dropped a stark warning to the West that frayed relations could result in the 500-ton place station crashing down on Europe or the U.S. — anything SpaceX CEO Elon Musk prompt he could counter.

In March, soon after Russia invaded, a controversy erupted following Russia's cosmonauts boarded the house station in yellow and blue suits that quite a few interpreted as a signal of support for Ukraine, as the fits have been the shades of the Ukrainian flag.

A U.S. astronaut aboard the place station as very well as the head of Roscosmos afterwards claimed that the cosmonauts wore the yellow and blue spacesuits in honor of the shades of their alma mater, Bauman Moscow Point out Specialized University. "Occasionally yellow is just yellow," Roscosmos's press provider claimed on its Telegram channel, for every Reuters. "The flight suits of the new crew are created in the colours of the emblem of the Bauman Moscow Point out Technical College, which all three cosmonauts graduated from ... to see the Ukrainian flag all over the place and in every thing is nuts."