Astronaut accused by Russia of sabotaging the International Space Station

The accusation undermines international cooperation in space. On August 12, Russian news agency TASS published an article accusing astronaut Serena Onion Chancellor of sabotaging the International Space Station (ISS).

According to Russia, the American was already going to drill a hole in the Soyuz module, so that it would be returned to Earth more quickly when it suffered a health problem while in orbit. An accusation comes from an unidentified senior official of Russia’s Roscosmos agency for civil space activities.

asked by tast, this source indicated that the hole in question could not have been a manufacturing defect or even arrived before takeoff. He particularly insisted on the fact that the unit had been tested in a vacuum chamber, and therefore it was possible to detect it. The leak was found at the end of August 2018, and so far Russia has not announced any official reason despite an investigation into the matter. Note that, according to experts, the crew was never in danger.

Russian departure?

For its part, NASA supports the astronaut. Kathy Luders, head of human spaceflight at the US agency, declared “no belief that there is any credibility to these accusations” on social networks. same story with Bill Nelson, Administrator of NASA, who said he “fully supports Serena”.

A media clash between Russia and the United States comes as Moscow threatens to leave the International Space Station in recent weeks. CNBC In fact, he made clear that if Washington did not lift sanctions against Russia, leaving the program would be an option to build their own space station. But Reuters has made clear that a possible departure cannot happen until 2025, leaving some time for the two countries to iron out their differences.