NASA chief tackles space station jitters amid Russian trolling

MIAMI — The head of NASA pledged this week to continue joint space exploration with other countries even as his Twitter-trolling Russian counterpart suggested Moscow could crash the International Space Station into Earth or leave a U.S. astronaut behind.

“We have been meeting almost daily for three weeks to ensure the safe operations of the ISS,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Monday in a video town hall with the agency’s 60,000-member workforce, according to text of his remarks obtained by NBC News.

“I want to ensure you that we are laser focused on our people," Nelson said, noting that he “remains committed” to all seven astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station and that NASA is “continuing to work with all our international partners to continue safe operation of the ISS.”

Nelson’s remarks, which acknowledged the unprecedented “strain in the relationship between the Russian and U.S. governments as a result of their attack on the people of Ukraine,” are in sharp contrast to the bellicose provocations on Twitter by Dimitry Olegovich Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.

Ever since the U.S. slapped sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle over the invasion of Ukraine, Rogozin and his agency have suggested that the space station could crash or that Russia might detach its module from the station and leave U.S. astronaut Mark Vande Hei — who is scheduled to hitch a ride back to Earth on a Russian spaceship on March 30. On Tuesday, Vande Hei broke the world record for most consecutive days in space, at 341.

The recent Russian escalations threaten nearly 50 years of joint space exploration between former Cold War adversaries that have put aside their terrestrial differences to pursue celestial missions. Now some space experts are calling on the U.S. to consider ending the International Space Station partnership with Russia, which began in 1987.

“NASA is on a very short list of entities still in public partnership with Russia — even Starbucks, McDonald's and Coca-Cola have stopped doing business with the regime,” said Ann Kapusta, who worked on the space station for NASA and is now the executive director of the Space Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group.

“We can’t ignore that Roscosmos is now part of Putin’s war machine,” she said. “If they haven’t already, NASA needs to begin the process of severing ties.”

Kapusta said a critical test in the relationship will come Friday, when Russia is scheduled to send three cosmonauts to the space station on a Soyuz rocket. It is scheduled to return March 30 with Vande Hei and two Russian cosmonauts.

But Vande Hei’s return was thrown into question March 5 when the state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti posted a video on social media showing the Russian segment of the space station detaching after the cosmonauts say goodbye to Vande Hei. Described as “comedic” by the network, the video was created by Roscosmos.

U.S. officials weren’t laughing.

Rogozin dismissed claims that Russia was threatening to maroon Vande Hei as “hysterical,” and the Russian news agency TASS explicitly promised Monday that Vande Hei would be safely returned. The U.S. has backup plans to retrieve him in case that doesn't happen.

“It is noteworthy that the expected launch of three cosmonauts to the ISS is proceeding on Friday,” Nelson said in his town hall, which pointedly didn’t mention Rogozin.

Nelson’s remarks were designed to reassure NASA workers and contractors while not escalating tensions with Russia — in line with Biden administration policy. But those familiar with Nelson’s thinking say he felt the need to speak up after Russia posted the space station video about Vande Hei.

Quelle: NBC News