CNN points out that despite rising
political tensions between the United States and Russia over the
latter’s intervention in Ukraine, the two countries continue
to cooperate
in space:
The space collaboration between the two nations has
survived other diplomatic kerfuffles—most recently, the war in
Syria and asylum for NSA leaker Edward Snowden—and there’s no need
to worry, NASA says.“We do not expect the current Russia-Ukraine situation to have any
impact on our civil space cooperation with Russia, including our
partnership on the International Space Station program,” said
Allard Beutel, a NASA spokesman, pointing out that it’s in both
countries’ best interests not to disrupt “operations that have
maintained continuous human presence on orbit for over a
decade.”Beutel added, “NASA and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, have
maintained a professional, beneficial and collegial working
relationship through the various ups and downs of the broader
U.S.-Russia relationship and we expect that to
continue.”
CNN highlights comments from a former space engineer who in
December called the relationship one of “reluctant
co-dependence.” Since the retirement of the space shuttle fleet
in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian Soyuz capabilities to get to
the International Space Station, a joint project of the U.S.,
Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The Russians, in turn, rely on
superior technology available through NASA as well as the $71
million per seat they get for taking American astronauts into
space.
The U.S. and Russian governments, then, both appear to
understand the mutual economic harm that would be caused by
extending sanctions to the relationship between their space
agencies. If only governments understood that broader sanctions
likewise harm the economic relationships between the peoples they
govern.
Meanwhile, nearly two weeks after Russian intervention in
Ukraine began, the European Union has agreed
to the framework and wording of its sanctions against Russia.
from Hit & Run http://ift.tt/OmBgQB
via IFTTT