Perhaps for the first time in history, the impact of the war between the two countries is felt in space. Space threats continue to come from Russia against the sanctions imposed by the USA and European countries due to the invasion of Ukraine. There may be a rocket engine crisis between Russia and the USA.
Russia has now canceled supplying rocket engines to the United States after it said earlier that the International Space Station could crash onto the United States or Europe. It also raised the flags of Western countries from the Soyuz rocket carrying the satellite of the British company OneWeb.
Russia stopped selling rocket engines to the USA
According to the latest statement by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the sanctions imposed on Russia from Ukraine have moved to space. Roscosmos President Dmitry Rogozin stated that they will stop selling rocket engines to the USA.
Speaking to Russian state television about the rocket engines whose sale to the USA has been stopped, Rogozin stated that they cannot give the “best rocket engines in the world” to the USA:
“We cannot supply the United States with the world’s best rocket engines in such a situation. Let them fly with something else, for example their broomstick (he’s talking about Harry Potter’s broom), I don’t know what will happen to [US launches] for now.”
Also, this is not the only cooperation canceled by Russia. In the last video shared by the President of Roscosmos, it was seen that the flags of the USA, Japan and England on the OneWeb satellite, which is planned to be launched with a Soyuz rocket, were closed. However, the fact that the Indian flag was not touched also aroused curiosity on social media.
“Our friends at the Baikonur Cosmodrome decided that our rocket would look better without the flags of some countries.”
Soyuz rocket carries 36 satellites that will provide broadband internet connection to various countries as part of the OneWeb project. The project aims to launch 648 satellites into orbit, and to date 428 of them have been launched using the Soyuz vehicle.
However, with the final decision, the threads were stretched between OneWeb and Russia. British company OneWeb retaliated when the Russian administration asked for assurances that the satellites would not serve the military. OneWeb, in which the British government also has a stake, stated that it has canceled the launches at Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the rocket engine crisis between Russia and the USA in the comments section or on the SDN Forum.
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