Despite the Ukraine war
NASA boss relies on cooperation with Russia
NASA CEO Bill Nelson during his first major address to employees at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. Photo: Bill Ingalls/NASA/AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
It is the first time that NASA has made a clear statement about further cooperation with cosmonauts on the ISS. The head of the US space agency continues to rely on the cooperation between Houston and Moscow.
Despite the Russian attack on Ukraine, the head of the US space agency Nasa, Bill Nelson, has confirmed further cooperation with Moscow regarding the International Space Station (ISS).
“The professional cooperation between the astronauts and the cosmonauts on board the ISS as well as between the control centers in Houston and in Moscow continues unchanged,” Nelson said at a press conference on Wednesday. This was also shown by the successful arrival of three cosmonauts at the ISS last week.
The return of US astronaut Mark Vande Hei, scheduled for the end of the month, will also take place “without any problems” and as planned. Vande Hei is to return to earth in a Russian Soyuz space capsule together with cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov.
It was the first time since the beginning of the war in Ukraine that Nelson spoke so openly on the subject at a press conference. Previously, however, other Nasa employees and the Russian space agency Roskosmos had already confirmed their willingness to continue working together on the ISS. The German astronaut Matthias Maurer is currently staying there.
After Bezos complaint: Nasa opens moon lander races
In addition, after a complaint from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Nasa has now restarted the race for the first commercial moon landing device. Bezos’ space company Blue Origin was unable to prevail against billionaire Elon Musk’s competitor SpaceX in a NASA lunar lander tender.
With an official complaint, however, Blue Origin and the company Dynetics, which was also defeated, were initially unsuccessful. Nevertheless, Nasa has now announced that it is still looking for products that compete with the SpaceX moon lander. “Competition is critical to our success on the surface of the moon and beyond,” NASA CEO Bill Nelson said at a news conference.
SpaceX is still committed, but is asked to expand its proposal. In addition, other American companies would be asked for proposals for a second moon lander. Bezos had previously tried to change NASA’s mind with an offer of money. The Amazon founder wrote in an open letter that Blue Origin would bear the costs of up to two billion dollars for the development and production of the moon lander if the company were allowed to compete again against competitor SpaceX. At first, Nasa had not responded, at least not publicly.
Mission planned for 2025 at the earliest
The order is part of the so-called Artemis program. The mission, which is planned for 2025 at the earliest, is to take four astronauts into lunar orbit in the Orion spacecraft, where two of them are to change to a landing vehicle for the final approach to the moon. A kind of space station is also to be created on the moon and used as a basis for a manned flight to Mars – but that will only happen in the distant future.
Last week, NASA deployed the rocket system for Artemis – consisting of the “Space Launch System” rocket and the “Orion” capsule – for the first time for test purposes at the Cape Canaveral spaceport. However, before the system is to be tested unmanned for the first time in May at the earliest, there are still numerous tests to be carried out.