.jeffreykluger: Why Russia (probably) won't crash the space station
, for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station,” the space agency wrote. “No changes are planned to the agency’s support for ongoing in orbit and ground station operations.”
Rogozin is right on a few points. The station’s guidance and orientation is indeed controlled by one of the Russian segments of the station—, or “Star,” module. What’s more, uncrewed Russian Progress cargo ships play a critical role in keeping the station flying. Even 400 km above the Earth, the ISS encounters tenuous wisps of atmosphere which would, over time, drag it back down out of orbit—like the then-unoccupied.
That doesn’t fix the problem entirely. The station’s thrusters and guidance are still controlled by the Zvezda, and even if the Russians could not knock the station out of the sky, cosmonauts could put it into a spin that would effectively disable it, preventing the ISS solar panels from getting a proper fix on the sun. But would they?
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