Nelson spoke hours before three Russian
cosmonauts launched from Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International
Space Station, the first crew launch since Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine in February.
The war has resulted in canceled spacecraft
launches and broken contracts, and many worry
Rogozin is putting decades of a peaceful off-
planet partnership at risk, most notably at the
International Space Station.
Besides threatening to pull out of the space
station and drop it on the U.S., Europe or
elsewhere, Rogozin had the flags of other
countries covered on a Soyuz rocket awaiting
liftoff with internet satellites. The launch was
called off after the customer, London-based
OneWeb, refused his demands that the satellites
not be used for military purposes and the British
government halt its financial backing.
The European Space Agency confirmed that
it is indefinitely suspending its ExoMars rover
mission with Roscosmos because of Russia’s war
in Ukraine.
“Despite all of that, up in space, we can have
a cooperation with our Russian friends, our
colleagues. The professional relationship between
astronauts and cosmonauts, it hasn’t missed a
beat,” Nelson said. “This is the cooperation we
have going on in the civilian space program.”
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei — who broke
the U.S. single spaceflight record of 340 days —
is due to leave the International Space Station
with two Russians aboard a Soyuz capsule for a
touchdown in Kazakhstan on March 30.
NASA has said Vande Hei’s homecoming plans
remain unchanged.