U.S.-Russia tension could affect space station, satellites

The escalating tension between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine has reached a new altitude: space.

In the aftermath of the Cold War, the two superpowers set aside their mistrust and agreed to build a massive orbiting outpost as a symbol of a new era of cooperation in space exploration. But now that partnership is under serious strain.

After Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin this week said his nation might no longer allow U.S. astronauts access to its launch vehicles and may use the International Space Station without American participation, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee pressed NASA for answers about the how the U.S. could respond.

Since the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet, Russia has provided launches for U.S. astronauts, at $71 million each.

"Dropping out of ISS is a high-profile move on Russia's part," said Marco A. Caceres, space analyst for the aerospace research firm Teal Group Corp. of Fairfax, Va. "They're pulling the rug out from under the Americans. It's a move of national pride that plays well in Russia."

Indeed, after railing against U.S. sanctions in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region, Rogozin, chief of the Russian space and defense sectors, suggested that "the U.S.A. ... bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline."

Rogozin's threat is too significant for the U.S. to ignore, said Loren B. Thompson, an aerospace and defense expert at the Lexington Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

"The central assumptions of the Obama administration space policy are no longer valid," he said.

The space station is just one example of how the trouble in Ukraine is undermining aerospace trade between the two leaders in space travel. Russia has threatened to suspend exports of rocket engines, which are used to help launch U.S. Air Force satellites. And it has threatened to suspend cooperation on navigational systems that depend on outposts in Russia.

The U.S. helped fund the Russian program in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. And when the shuttle Columbia burned up on reentry in 2003, killing seven, the Russians agreed to help ferry U.S. astronauts back and forth to space.

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U.S.-Russia tension could affect space station, satellites