The close working relationship between NASA and the Russian space agency centered around the International Space Station (ISS) since the 1990s is now looking precarious as the United States faces a dilemma over whether to continue to business with a public sector controlled by Russia’s military-industrial complex.
At issue is whether the sale of Russian-made rocket engines for NASA launch vehicles undermines the reason that U.S. sanctions were imposed on two Russian officials for their role in Moscow’s invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014: Dmitry Rogozin, a deputy prime minister in charge of Russia’s defense industry known as the country’s “space czar,” and Sergei Chemezov, the head of Rostec, a vast state-owned defense and technology holding company.
Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are set to be spent by the United States for these rocket engines.
