Russia: “Houston, we have a problem”

Propaganda provocation forces NASA response

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, NASA has tried to preserve its partnership in space. The agency, unlike the rest of Biden Administration, which turned up the rhetoric and sanctions against the Putin government, said it would continue to operate the International Space Station (ISS) with Russia. A “crew swap” program carries on with NASA training cosmonauts to fly the SpaceX Dragon capsule.

NASA’s tone changed dramatically last week because of one picture. The picture of three cosmonauts holding the flag of the region in Ukraine now fully occupied by the Russians. The Russian space agency Roscosmos posted the picture on Telegram and the accompanying message read partly (according to Google translate), “The entire territory of the Luhansk People's Republic has been liberated,” adding the cosmonauts, “join the congratulations.”

NASA STATEMENT

That message, and picture from space, forced NASA to respond. There were no threats from the US space agency. The statement is just one sentence: “NASA strongly rebukes Russia using the International Space Station for political purposes to support its war against Ukraine, which is fundamentally inconsistent with the station’s primary function among the 15 international participating countries to advance science and develop technology for peaceful purposes.”

A longtime resident of the ISS, retired astronaut Scott Kelly, also had a one sentence response to the photograph. “I was disgusted by it,” he told me. Kelly spent a year on the space station as part of NASA’s efforts to learn about the effects of long-duration space travel. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Kelly got into a war of words on Twitter with the head of Roscosmos.

Astronaut Scott Kelly onboard the ISS preparing for a spacewalk in 2018. (Credit: NASA)

Kelly says he knows only one of the three cosmonauts now on ISS. “They're endorsing and, championing things like genocide and war crimes from space and, you know, the space station is supposed to be apolitical,” he told me. The astronaut was pleased with the measured response from NASA. “I saw NASA rebuked them, somewhat, to some extent… that they could at this point,” he said.

ROCKET TO SIBERIA?

Kelly wonders if the cosmonauts were willful participants or were forced to wave the flag. “The choice of holding up these flags, you know, versus a rocket to Siberia, because they probably had no choice,” he said.

While the fiery head of Roscosmos has talked about ending Russia participation on the ISS, Kelly thinks that won’t happen, and shouldn’t. “I think it's important that we try to hold this partnership together for as long as we can because it is kind of the last thing keeping us connected to you know, a major country on this planet,” he said.

Astronaut Scott Kelly believes it is important to preserve the relationship with Russia in space.

The Russian segment on the ISS is important. It provides power to keep the station in the correct orbit. Kelly says if the Russians were to leave, NASA would have to work quickly to replace the important propulsion controls.

IMPACT ON ISS

Meanwhile, the Russians continue to make progress in their attempt to take over more of the eastern part of Ukraine known as Donbas. My bulletin.com colleague, and International Relations expert Ian Bremmer wrote about the situation on the ground last week.

In this April image a Ukrainian serviceman looks into a crater and a destroyed home are pictured in the village of Yatskivka, eastern Ukraine and area now controlled by Russia. (Credit: RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

Bremmer tells me he doesn’t think the propaganda stunt on the ISS will change the relationship in space. “Practically speaking, not much will change. After all, these are scientists we’re talking about, they were probably ordered to do that. But it’s sad to see just how politicized sports, culture, science, etc. are getting. And it’s yet more evidence that Russia’s decoupling from the G7 will be near complete and effectively permanent.”

Astronaut Scott Kelly hopes the relationship in space will keep the two countries engaged. But he thinks change needs to come in Russia. He finished our conversation this way, “Hopefully some cooler heads and reasonable people will prevail in Russia and send Putin packing.”

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(Cover photo credit: Roscosmos via Telegram)