(RoyalPatriot.com )- Even with tensions running high, two NASA astronauts carried out a spacewalk on the International Space Station on Tuesday. American astronauts continue their collaboration with Russian colleagues onboard the spacecraft even as the United States and much of the Western world slaps Russia with sanctions over the military invasion of Ukraine.
Joel Montalbano, the space station program manager at NASA, said in a briefing on Monday that the space station is continuing operations as normal despite the ongoing military occupation of Ukraine.
“All these activities have continued for 20 years and nothing has changed in the last three weeks,” he said in a statement. “We’re aware of what’s going on, but we are able to do our jobs to continue operations.”
It goes to show that, once you leave the boundaries of the earth, wars like this fade into insignificance…but for the people down here on the ground, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is very real, very brutal, and totally destructive.
The cooperation between Russian and American astronauts and scientists is essential for the proper functioning of the International Space Station. The United States provides power to the Russian section of the station, while the Russian progress vehicle that is docked to the station has thrusters that allow the space station to remain properly in orbit and to avoid debris that may cause damage.
Let’s hope that cooperation continues…