Russia denied the threat that would abandon an American astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS). The director of Roscosmos, Dimitry Rogozin, said that it was all a jokeso the return of Mark Vande Hei is confirmed for March 30.
According to the news agency TASSthe Roscosmos has never given cause to doubt its reliability. A spokesperson for the space agency stressed that the safety of the ISS crew has always been its top priority.
American astronaut Mark Vande Hei will travel back home in the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft together with Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov on March 30. Roscosmos has never let anyone doubt its reliability as a partner
Rogozin said that the video that caused a furor was a simple edition of the RIA Novosty chain where the Russian astronauts say goodbye to Vande Hei. Subsequently, the control center in Moscow is attentive to the undocking of the Russian section of the International Space Station.
The one-minute short that put several in check was a play by the state news agency. the three cosmonauts will fly back to Earth on March 30 aboard a Soyuz MS-19 capsule, as originally planned.
Space requires honest partnerships, says Russia
Despite what has been said by the Russian Space Agency, Rogozin does not believe in the blind brotherhood promoted by some astronauts, such as veteran Scott Kelly. The head of Roscosmos commented in an interview that he disagrees with the idea that space is free of politics.
“The solution to problems in space requires honest alliances, since astronauts run a colossal risk,” he said.
The statements of the Russian official came after Joe Biden announced economic sanctions against Russia due to the war in Ukraine. The US president limited access to radiation-resistant space microelectronics.
Rogozin the new sanctions are absurd and affect installations that have no relation to the Russian military. One of them is the TsSKB-Progress Space Center, responsible for manufacturing Soyuz rockets.
The Roscosmos already Shipping written to NASA and the European Space Agency to demand that they lift the restrictions. The director of him said that the command center in Moscow and the TsSKB-Progress center are under sanctions that endanger the maintenance and operability of the International Space Station.
Dimitry Rogozin warned that international cooperation in space is being “obsessively destroyed” by the West.
