It is customary for newcomers to the International Space Station (ISS) to be greeted by the crew with hugs.
No reason for it to be otherwise, this Friday evening, when the access hatch will open, around 10:30 p.m. (Paris time), to let in three Russians.
But the mission of Oleg Artemiev, Denis Matveïev and Sergei Korsakov intervenes in a very tense geopolitical context, while in addition to two of their compatriots, four Americans and a German are currently working in the station.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions, the head of the Roscosmos space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, has repeatedly raised the threat of a Russian withdrawal from the ISS, which he believes would have consequence of its uncontrolled fall towards the Earth - an event however improbable.
In a much calmer style, cosmonaut Oleg Artemiev, commander of the Soyuz spacecraft due to take off from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) at 4:55 p.m., posted on Twitter, in early March, magnificent views of the Earth taken from its future space home.
We can easily imagine him wishing a "happy birthday" to the German Matthias Maurer, 52 spring this Friday, once arrived in the station.
Облака с борта МКС!
Новая подборка фото для вас, дорогие друзья!❤ pic.twitter.com/5V92BU79gE
— Oleg Artemyev (@OlegMKS) March 2, 2022
If she says she is ready to "undo what we have built with Russia", the European Space Agency (ESA), on which this astronaut depends, explained Thursday that the situation was perfectly normal in the orbital station, an example of peaceful collaboration. for 23 years.
“Operations there are stable and secure,” said its boss, Josef Aschbacher, during a press briefing.
He said that 400 km above our heads, “Matthias” was “happy”, he and his colleagues were in “good spirits” and also “very busy”.
“No tension with the crew”
Last Monday, it was the American agency which reiterated that “nothing has changed” for the ISS since the start of the conflict.
“Are they aware of what is happening on Earth?
Absolutely,” said Joel Montalbano, station program director for NASA.
But the astronauts are “professionals” and “there is no tension with the crew”.
“They were trained to do a job, and they are up there doing it,” he insisted.
In an internal email obtained by CNN, an agency official last week allegedly urged former astronauts to be cautious before 'attacking our Russian partners', as such attacks could be 'damaging' to the mission. from the ISS.
This request came after a skirmish, on Twitter, between Dmitry Rogozin and American astronaut Scott Kelly.
The latter has since explained that he would no longer engage in such quarrels.
On the ESA side, it was Thomas Pesquet who recently spoke about the instrumentalization of the ISS for political purposes.
" That's a shame.
This station, I see it a bit as an example, in fact.
She is in the firmament, physically, but also somewhere, symbolically, of international cooperation, ”explained this week to Public Senate the French astronaut, who returned from the ISS last year.
For @Thom_astro "too bad" that the space station #ISS is the object of political instrumentalization "it must remain in the firmament of international cooperation, that people see us working together I hope it appeases everyone"
👉 # UMUR @fitouss sells at 7 p.m. pic.twitter.com/pz66K95S4R
— Public Senate (@publicsenat) March 16, 2022
“I think that influence is extremely positive.
Let people see us all working together, Americans, Russians, Europeans, Canadians, Japanese, on the space station.
That we can also communicate it to Earth.
I hope it calms everyone, I hope it has an extremely positive effect, ”continued Thomas Pesquet.
“We absolutely have to try to keep this for the future.
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