US-Russia Space Relations

Modern Day

With recent news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has put many connections with the United States in jeopardy. One of these is their space partnership, with the United States and Russia both aboard the International Space Station. In fact, out of the seven people on the International Space Station, four are Americans and two are Russians. However, NASA is hoping to keep their collaboration with Russia, since they depend on them for a couple of different reasons.

• Since the ISS is divided into the US Orbital Segment and the Russian Orbital Segment, these two branches work together to run the station. Both segments do depend on each other to be able to work.
• Less manpower aboard the International Space Station results in a more costly environment overall.

There are also trade aspects that could potentially be impacted by Russia’s aggression. For one, both Russia and Ukraine have played a big role in the space industry through buying or selling different spacecraft components (Sheetz). In addition, The United States has a history of renting Russian rockets to be able to fly to the International Space Station or launch satellites since it was cheaper to do so. But now with advances through SpaceX and the Commercial Crew program, this has changed. This marked the first time that the United States could launch their own astronauts since the end of space shuttle usage, which means that reliance on Russia could decrease in the future.

The Space Race

And now, a link to the past – the space race. Stemming from the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to prove that they were better in all aspects, which included space technology and exploration. There were a slew of achievements for the Soviet Union. For one, they were able to launch the Sputnik satellite in 1957, which was the first man-made satellite in space. The United States answered back a year later and launched Explorer I, and NASA was also created in that same year. Then in 1959, the Soviet Union sent the first space probe onto the moon (Luna 2). Two years later, they sent the first person to orbit the Earth. Although the United States was slightly behind in advancements, President Kennedy promised that they would be the first to put a man on the moon. Then on July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins finally became the first to land on the moon’s surface. It truly was, according to Armstrong, “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”