ESA cancels space station astronaut interview amid war in Ukraine

While cooperation still reigns aboard the International Space Station, cancellation of interview with astronaut suggests even ISS is not above the fallout from the war in Ukraine

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer (ESA)

The European Space Agency has cancelled an upcoming live Q&A with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station due to concerns over the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer was to participate in an in-flight question and answer session on Thursday afternoon.

A German citizen, Dr Maurer holds a PhD in materials science and joined the current ISS Expedition 66 crew on 11 November. He is expected to stay there after American astronaut Mark Vande Hai, and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov, return to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on 30 March.

But the cancellation of the Maurer interview is the latest sign that an operation as integral as returning American and Russian ISS crew to Earth might be jeopardized by the international tensions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While ESA and Nasa were quick to assert they would continue cooperating with their counterparts at Roscosmos after Russia’s invasion began on 24 February, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin suggested his country might pull out of the ISS program.

Over the weekend Russian halted Soyuz launches and pulled staff from the European spaceport in French Guiana, while ESA has issued a statement saying the space agency would work to implement sanctions placed on Russia by ESA member states, likely delaying this year’s launch of the joint ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars rover.

So far, the historic cooperation between Russia, ESA and the US regarding major ISS operations has held, with Russia boosting the space station to a higher altitude on Monday despite hints by Mr Rogozin that Russia might halt flight operations for the ISS. Russia has been a partner in the space station program since 1993.

The 30 March Soyuz mission is still scheduled as of Tuesday, as is a commercial satellite launch from the Roscosmos Baiknonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan scheduled for 4 March. The 4 March launch, if it takes place, would place satellites in orbit for OneWeb, a satellite communications company partly owned by the UK government.

OneWeb did not respond to multiple requests for comment.