NASA can pivot back to the outreach program and combating global warming.
Via The Daily Mail
The International Space Station is set to be shut down by the end of the decade thanks to the breakdown in ties between the U.S. and Russia in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.
The announcement came today as six Ukrainian soldiers were killed in an ambush by militants in the breakaway east of the country.
At least 30 pro-Russian insurgents used grenade launchers and automatic weapons in the assault outside the town of Kramatorsk, which also left eight Ukrainian soldiers injured.
Russia’s deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin announced a series of punitive measures against the U.S. in response to sanctions imposed after Russia annexed Crimea.
The two countries have long co-operated closely on space exploration despite their clashes in foreign policy, but that era could now be coming to an end.
The International Space Station is manned by both American and Russian crew, but the only way to reach it is by using Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.
The U.S. is keen to keep the $100billion ISS flying until at least 2024, four years beyond its original target.
However, Mr Rogozin today said that Russia would reject the request, bringing the mission to an end in 2020.