TORONTO – As political tensions mount between Americans and Russians over the conflict in Crimea here on Earth, 300 kilometres above the planet, everything is business as usual.
Launched in 1998, the International Space Station is jointly operated by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. The two countries with the most investment are Russia and the United States.
“The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken,” NASA’s International Space Station website reads. But for the astronauts, it’s all about the science.
But according to the Washington Post, NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that “Everything is nominal right now with our relationship with the Russians.” He also noted that there have been past conflicts that have never threatened the space program.
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It’s a good thing, too, since American astronauts aboard the ISS would have no way of leaving if things weren’t. The United States mothballed its space shuttle program in 2011, leaving the space agency unable to get into space.
Though SpaceX, a private company, has successfully delivered cargo to the ISS, a manned method of getting to the space station is still in the works. NASA is working on its own space launch system (SLS), but its goal is to get humans beyond Earth’s orbit using its Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.
But on the station, it’s work as usual for the Expedition 38 crew, which includes three Russian cosmonauts, two American astronauts and a Japanese astronaut. You might also say that the station gives them a unique perspective on a world mired in conflict.
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