Russia to ban US from using International Space Station amid Ukraine crisis
Under current plans, the international Space Station is to be decommissioned in 2020. The US has moved to extend that to 2024, but with the end of the US shuttle program, extending the life of the ISS is dependent on Russia’s rockets. Now, in retaliation to the US sanctions issued against Russia for its involvement in the Ukraine crisis, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has announced that Moscow would not allow its rockets to be used by the US and it will keep the US from using Russian-made rocket engines to launch military satellites, Mashable reported.
Rogozin said that the Russian segment can exist independently from the American one.