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NASA head: We have cooperation with our Russian colleagues

Alex Sanz

Associated Press

Tags: Dmitry Rogozin, Science
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This Dec. 6, 2021 photo provided by NASA shows the International Space Station orbited 264 miles above the Tyrrhenian Sea with the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship docked to the Rassvet module and the Prichal module, still attached to the Progress delivery craft, docked to the Nauka multipurpose module. The former head of the National Space Council tells The Associated Press, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, that tensions in eastern Ukraine and heightened Western fears of a Russian invasion should not have a significant impact on the International Space Station or U.S.-Russia cooperation in space. (NASA via AP)
In this photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency, Russian cosmonauts, commander leg rtemyiv, centre, flight engineers Denis atveev, right, and Sergei Korsakov, members of the main crew to the International Space Station (ISS), walk prior to the launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Friday, March 18, 2022. (Roscosmos Space Agency via AP)
In this photo taken from video footage released by the Roscosmos Space Agency, the Soyuz-2.1a rocket booster with Soyuz MS-21 space ship carrying Russian cosmonauts leg rtemiev, Denis atveev and Sergei Korsakov to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Friday, March 18, 2022. (Roscosmos Space Agency via AP)
This Nov. 8, 2021 photo provided by NASA shows The International Space Station is pictured from inside a window aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour. The former head of the National Space Council tells The Associated Press, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, that tensions in eastern Ukraine and heightened Western fears of a Russian invasion should not have a significant impact on the International Space Station or U.S.-Russia cooperation in space. (NASA via AP)
This Nov. 8, 2021 photo provided by The International Space Station pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour. The former head of the National Space Council tells The Associated Press, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, that tensions in eastern Ukraine and heightened Western fears of a Russian invasion should not have a significant impact on the International Space Station or U.S.-Russia cooperation in space. (NASA via AP)
In this handout photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency, head or Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, left, speaks with Russian cosmonauts, commander leg rtemyiv, centre, flight engineers Denis atveev, right, and Sergei Korsakov, members of the main crew to the International Space Station (ISS), prior the launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Friday, March 18, 2022. (Roscosmos Space Agency via AP)
In this handout photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency, Russian cosmonauts, commander leg rtemyiev flight engineers Denis atveev and Sergei Korsakov, members of the main crew to the International Space Station (ISS), wave near the rocket prior the launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Friday, March 18, 2022. (Roscosmos Space Agency via AP)

This Dec. 6, 2021 photo provided by NASA shows the International Space Station orbited 264 miles above the Tyrrhenian Sea with the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship docked to the Rassvet module and the Prichal module, still attached to the Progress delivery craft, docked to the Nauka multipurpose module. The former head of the National Space Council tells The Associated Press, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, that tensions in eastern Ukraine and heightened Western fears of a Russian invasion should not have a significant impact on the International Space Station or U.S.-Russia cooperation in space. (NASA via AP)

ATLANTA – NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Friday played down recent comments by the head of Russia’s space agency that the United States would have to use broomsticks to fly to space after Russia said it would stop supplying rocket engines to U.S. companies.

“That’s just Dmitry Rogozin. He spouts off every now and then. But at the end of the day, he’s worked with us,” Nelson told The Associated Press. “The other people that work in the Russian civilian space program, they’re professional. They don’t miss a beat with us, American astronauts and American mission control.”

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Nelson spoke with The Associated Press 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.

On Thursday, 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 on Tuesday 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.

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Follow Alex Sanz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/alexsanz

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