Nasa plays down threat to space station after Russian threat to end co-operation
Operations continue as normal, US agency says after Russia signals end of ISS co-operation and GPS ban in retaliation for Ukraine sanctions
Nasa is playing down a Russian statement about an early end to co-operation on the International Space Station because of US sanctions on Moscow.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow would reject a US request to prolong the orbiting station's use beyond 2020. It also would bar Washington from using Russian-made rocket engines to launch military satellites.
Moscow took the action, which also includes suspending operation of GPS satellite navigation system sites on its territory, in response to US plans to deny export licences for hi-tech items that could help Russia's military.
"We are very concerned about continuing to develop hi-tech projects with such an unreliable partner as the United States, which politicises everything," Rogozin said.
Washington wants to keep the US$100 billion, 15-nation space station project in use until at least 2024, four years beyond the previous target.
Nasa said it had not yet received any official notification from Russia on changes in space cooperation. "Space cooperation has been a hallmark of US-Russia relations, including during the height of the cold war, and most notably, in the past 13 consecutive years of continuous human presence on board the International Space Station," it said.