Russia&CIS

Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos says it will return US astronaut Mark Vande Hei to Earth as scheduled, on board the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft together with cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov on March 30th. Speculation to the contrary emerged earlier based on geopolitical tensions between Russia and the US after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Space Cafe WebTalk “33 minutes with Simonetta Di Pippo” on the topic of “International Women's Day 2022 - A Conversation on Women in Space,” took place on 8th March interviewing UNOOSA Director, Simonetta Di Pippo. Ms Di Pippo maintains responsibility for the Office's management and administration,

The intergovernmental organisation, ESA, held a meeting with its 22 Member States to discuss future cooperation with Russia reflecting European values. A statement issued by the agency yesterday says that ESA fully implements the sanctions imposed on Russia by its Member States.

Elon Musk confirmed that SpaceX would get involved if the ISS fell out of orbit and came crashing down to Earth. Russian space chief, Dmitry Rogozin, said that they would not save the ISS from an uncontrolled de-orbit due to new US sanctions against the country. 

Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has suspended launch operations from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, and is recalling its technical personnel as a response to EU sanctions towards Russia. Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Space, stated that the decision had no consequences “on the continuity and quality of the Galileo and Copernicus services.”

The latest episode of Space Café Russia by Elina Morozova, which is now on air with simultaneous translation into English, featured Vladimir Agapov, General Designer of joint-stock company Astronomical Scientific Center, Alexander Solntsev, Deputy Head of the Department of International Law at RUDN University, and Valentin Uvarov, CEO of Climate Monitoring Systems LLC.

During this week’s Space Café, SpaceWatch.Global Publisher Torsten Kriening caught up with Berlin-based litigation expert and ‘space geek’ Dr Jan Frohloff. Having completed undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and Kings College in London,

This episode of Space Café Russia will feature Vladimir Agapov, General Designer of joint-stock company Astronomical Scientific Center, Alexander Solntsev, Deputy Head of the Department of International Law at RUDN University, and Valentin Uvarov, CEO of Climate Monitoring Systems LLC.

Russia recently conducted a successful test of the Nudol system, shooting down one of its own satellites. However, Nudol is just one of many tools that may help Russia gain dominance in space and constrain other nations acting in space. Donatas Palavenis, of the Baltic Institute of Advanced Technology, gives a review.

Persei, the upper stage of the failed Angara-A5 launch on 27th December, harmlessly reentered over the South Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, the U.S. Space Force reported. Roscosmos did not provide any details on Persei and its 2400-kg payload after the launch nor did they acknowledge its malfunction.