The Russo-Ukrainian conflict also has an impact on the collaboration of the United States and Russia on the space station (ISS). Moreover, the head of the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) Dmitry Rogozin also threatened several times to leave the ISS and leave US astronauts there.
NASA also revealed the fate of the ISS if Russia really left the ISS. In a recently released FAQ page, NASA responds to several Russian threats, including what happened in Russia leaving the ISS to the possibility of the Russian part being separated from the ISS and becoming its own station.
The answer is that if Russia leaves the ISS, the impact will be very large for the operations of the space laboratory. But they can't just separate the Russian part from the rest of the ISS and continue operating in orbit.
The ISS needs NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts at all times to be fully operational, even though the two countries are very dependent on each other. For example, if there is a problem in the US segment, only NASA astronauts can solve it.
"The same goes for Russian cosmonauts in the failure situations that arise in the Russian segment," NASA said in a blog post, as quoted from Futurism.
The Russian segment of the ISS provides all of the propulsion used for station reboost, altitude control, space junk avoidance maneuvers, and de-orbit operations. Meanwhile the US segment provides power from solar panels and some life support systems.
Even so, the threat from Rogozin could not be underestimated. If there were no Russian cosmonauts on the ISS, the space station could de-orbit or fall out of orbit and potentially fall to Earth.
The reason is, the ISS needs a boost from the Russian-made Progress spacecraft. Currently the US and NASA do not yet have a similar propulsion engine to replace Progress, so it will take significant time and money to build one.
Because of the propulsion problem, the US and NASA will also have to rely on Russian help if they are to get the ISS out of orbit so that it can be retired to the seabed by 2030.
In the midst of threats from Rogozin, it seems that the relationship between NASA and Roscosmos is still on good terms. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who was threatened with abandonment on the ISS, will still return home in a Soyuz capsule on March 30.