STAR WARS

[Raya @ REAL CONSERVATIVES]

• STAR WARS    MAY 13 

Russia moves to prohibit the U.S. from using the ISS in 2020

Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty Images

Russia's ongoing feud with the United States has hit new heights — literally. In retaliation for the sanctions the U.S. imposed on Russia during the Ukraine crisis, the country said it won't allow the U.S. use the International Space Station after 2020.

The measures, which were announced today by Russia's deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, also prohibit the U.S. from using the ISS's rocket engines to launch new satellites. Although the space station is manned by a Russian and American crew, the only way to reach it is by using Russia's Soyuz spaceships.

The U.S. had hoped to keep the aging ISS floating until 2024. Rogozin said after 2020, Russia will likely pull its money from the space station and move it to a "project with more prospects." Rogozin also slammed NASA for drastically scaling back its space exploration projects in recent years. "The Russian segment can exist independently from the American one," he said. "The U.S. one cannot."

 - - Jordan Valinsky

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FLASH!!!...just in!!!

Russia threatens to disrupt GPS navigation

in fight over sanctions

Hold onto your sat nav. The Russian government has just threatened to end cooperation with America on major space projects, including maintenance of the GPS system. The policy will also prevent NASA from accessing the International Space Station from 2020, as well as blocking the supply of components for America's Atlas V rockets, which are currently vital for sending military and commercial satellites into space. With regards to GPS, Deputy PM Dimitry Rogozin says that he'll shut down Russian base stations that keep the system going, unless the US promises to house reciprocal stations to support the competing GLONASS platform. He's quoted as saying that Russia is wary about developing future "high-tech projects with such an unreliable partner as the United States, which politicizes everything." Why the sudden burst of angry rhetoric? As you can probably guess, aside from the dispute over local GPS stations, it has everything to do with America's decision to impose sanctions on Russia, following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

All of this guff and bluster is likely to cause as much harm to Russia as it does to the US, since closing down base stations will make the system less accurate for Russian users. It's also going to hurt the Russian economy, since both the sales of NK-33 and RD-180 engines for the Atlas V, and transporting passengers to the ISS earns the country hundreds of millions of dollars. The only real beneficiary from all of this could be America's private space sector, with companies like SpaceX potentially being asked to step in, if rockets like the Falcon 9 (and Dragon Capsule) could be adapted to take people instead of cargo.

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[PHILIP SCHNEIDER]

The Obama administration is such a lightweight when it comes to choosing a fight.

Russia is the LAST nation you want to start something with. They have REAL POWER and the guts to use it.