The New Cold War Threatens the International Space Station and will kill the Atlas Rocket

Russia cast doubt on the long-term future of the International Space Station, a showcase of post-Cold War cooperation, as it retaliated on Tuesday against U.S. sanctions over Ukraine.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow would reject a U.S. request to prolong the orbiting station’s use beyond 2020. It will also bar Washington from using Russian-made rocket engines to launch military satellites, and suspend the operation of GPS satellite navigation system sites on its territory.

Washington wants to keep the 15-nation space station project in use until at least 2024, four years beyond the previous target.

Moscow’s plan to part ways on a project that was supposed to end the Space Race underlines how relations between the former Cold War rivals have deteriorated since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March.

Since the end of the U.S. space shuttle project, Russian Soyuz spacecraft have provided the only means to transport astronauts to and from the space station. NASA is working with several U.S. companies to develop a new generation of space taxis, but those spacecraft aren’t due to start flying until 2017.

Until that time, NASA has to pay Russia more than $60 million per seat for flights to the station. Last month, Rogozin quipped that NASA might have to start “using a trampoline” to send its astronauts into orbit.

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