I have always been a fan of science fiction. This means that I have always been interested in space flight. Early on, man's moves into space were referred to as the Space Race. This highlighted the fact that there was an intertwining of national prestige, available funding, public appreciation, military capability, utility and the universal urge to explore new realms. Advanced industrial nations competed with each other for the honors of first satellite in orbit, first manned flight to orbit, first space station, first satellite to the moon, first satellite to Mars and first manned moon landing. After the U.S. landed on the moon in 1969, enthusiasm and funding for U.S. space programs has waned. NASA is currently fighting for every dollar it can get to launch new missions.
The development of the International Space Station (ISS) marked a new era of cooperation for space-faring nations. The first module was launched in 1998. Both the United States and Russia have launched section of the ISS into low Earth orbit. "The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields. The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars."
Since Expedition 1 arrived at the ISS in November of 2000, the station has been continuously occupied now for thirteen years. It holds the record of occupation since it passed the Soviet Mir station record of ten years in 2010. "The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: Soyuz, Progress, the Automated Transfer Vehicle, the H-II Transfer Vehicle, Dragon, and Cygnus. It has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from15 different nations."
The official ISS program is a cooperative project involving five space agencies bound by treaties and agreements. The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are all involved in the ISS.
As I said at the beginning of the post, the human foray into space is a complex interlinking of many factors. Since the United States ended its space shuttle program in 2011, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft are the only vehicles being used to ferry astronauts and supplies to and from the ISS. Now international politics are impacting the operation of the ISS.
Since tensions have been rising in Ukraine and Russia is being subject to sanctions by the U.S. and other nations, the Russians have been retreating from the cooperation that made the ISS possible. At first, there was some effort to isolate the ISS cooperation agreement from the impact of the sanctions as NASA severed ties with Roskosmos but tried to retain cooperation on the ISS program. Now it appears as if the Russians will no longer allow the U.S. to use the Soyuz spacecraft to move U.S. astronauts to the station. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister who is a target of U.S. sanctions recently said that perhaps NASA should try using a trampoline to get U.S. astronauts to orbit.
The U.S. does not plan to have manned launched capability until about 2017. If U.S. - Russian relations continue to deteriorate, the ISS program may be seriously impacted. This could lead to another space race to weaponize Earth orbit even though there are international treaties to prohibit such weaponization. Hopefully, the mess in the Ukraine can be peacefully resolved so the ISS program of peaceful cooperation in the exploration of space can continue.