The ISS should receive the Nobel Peace Prize, said André Kuipers in 2018 at the 20th anniversary of the space station. Russians, Americans, Europeans, Canadians and Japanese have been working together peacefully since 1998.
But the war in Ukraine is turning everything upside down, including in space. Launches are being scrapped, joint projects are at risk and yesterday the head of Russia’s space program warned that sanctions could hit the ISS. endanger.
As far as Kuipers is concerned, the ISS is still eligible for the peace prize, but he wonders whether the station still has a future. “In recent years there have been more cracks in the cooperation with Russia, and then you always saw that everything went on as usual. But this is a very big crack. The Americans wanted to continue with the ISS until 2030, but I am now afraid. it is true that the end will come a little earlier. 2024, if the situation does not become even more extreme. Space travel, just like art and sport, has always remained outside the political hassle, but now we have a different story. That is a shame.”
The Twitter accounts of the astronauts in the ISS (two Russians, four Americans and one German) are remarkably quiet. Photos of Kamchatka are shared, an experiment with liquid metal. Not a word about the war.
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