Future of the International Space Station is uncertain: Russia

Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s top space official, said the future of the International Space Station is in doubt after the U.S., the EU, and Canadian space agencies missed a deadline for lifting sanctions, some of which predate the war in Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.

Rogozin implied on Russian state TV that the sanctions could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft servicing the ISS, according to AP. He said the agency’s Western partners need the ISS and “cannot manage without Russia, because no one but us can deliver fuel to the station,” noting that “only the engines of our cargo craft are able to correct the ISS’s orbit, keeping it safe from space debris.”

Rogozin later wrote on his Telegram channel that Western counterparts have vowed to promote “further cooperation on the ISS and its operations.” He said, however, that normal relations between the agencies will only be restored “with the complete and unconditional lifting” of sanctions, which he called illegal, AP reported.