Statements attributed to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin appear to be the first public linkage between tensions over Ukraine and the future of U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).  U.S. officials have repeatedly insisted that the ISS would not be affected by the deterioration in U.S.-Russian relations.  This appears to be the first public statement by a Russian official.

Russia’s Interfax news agency reportedly quoted Rogozin as saying that “Sanctions are always a boomerang which come back and painfully hit those who launched them.”  He also reportedly said that if the aim of new sanctions imposed by the Obama Administration yesterday are intended “to deliver a blow to Russia’s rocket-building sector, then by default they would be exposing their astronauts on the ISS.”  The Obama Administration announced restrictions on exports to Russia yesterday for items on the U.S. Munitions List — which includes commercial satellites — if they might aid Russia’s military.  Details were not provided.

Rogozin’s comments were in Russian and English translations were reported by a number of western news outlets, some of which also cited remarks along the same lines on Rogozin’s Russian-language Twitter account.  Alan Boyle of NBC News reports that Rogozin suggested via Twitter that the United States “bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline.”

The United States and the other non-Russian partners in the ISS have had to rely on Russian Soyuz rockets and spacecraft to get back and forth to the ISS on a routine basis since the space shuttle was terminated in 2011.  The ISS crews also must rely on the Soyuz spacecraft as “lifeboats” in case they need to evacuate the station in an emergency.   Today, there are three Russians, two Americans and one Japanese aboard the ISS.  NASA continues to report that all is well there.   Russia and the United States jointly operate the ISS and it would extremely difficult for one to operate it without the other.

The United States, Europe, Japan and Canada — all partners in the ISS — each announced new sanctions against Russia in the past two days because of its activities in Ukraine.  CNN has a handy list of the individuals and entities that have been sanctioned so far.  None appears to be directly related to space station activities other than Rogozin himself, who was among the first group of Russians sanctioned by the United States in March.   As noted, the Obama Administration also is restricting exports to Russia that might aid Russia’s military.  It also instructed NASA to limit its cooperation with Russia other than for activities that are exempted, such as ISS.

Congressional actions are also reflecting the current tensions.  The House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Forces subcommittee is preparing to mark up its section of the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act tomorrow.  Among other things, it plans to provide $220 million to DOD to develop an American-built liquid rocket engine to replace the Russian RD-180 engines used for Atlas V rockets.  Instead of referring to “Russian” engines, though, the language refers to “non-allied.”  The bill also requires a report from DOD assessing threats to U.S. space operations especially from China and Russia.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, said in a speech yesterday, that the United States is facing “real competition in space” not only from China, but “for the first time since the end of the Cold War, an overtly hostile Russia that is threatening our allies in Europe.”

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney released a statement this morning (April 28, 2014) announcing that additional sanctions are being placed on Russia because of the situation in Ukraine.  Asset freezes on 17 Russian companies and export license restrictions are among the new sanctions.

The statement is general so it is not clear at this point whether any of the actions will affect space-related activities.  The relevant part of the statement is as follows:

“The Department of the Treasury is imposing sanctions on seven Russian government officials, including two members of President Putin’s inner circle, who will be subject to an asset freeze and a U.S. visa ban, and 17 companies linked to Putin’s inner circle, which will be subject to an asset freeze.  In addition, the Department of Commerce has imposed additional restrictions on 13 of those companies by imposing a license requirement with a presumption of denial for the export, re-export or other foreign transfer of U.S.-origin items to the companies.  Further, today the Departments of Commerce and State have announced a tightened policy to deny export license applications for any high-technology items that could contribute to Russia’s military capabilities.  Those Departments also will revoke any existing export licenses that meet these conditions.”

Later in the day, the White House released a transcript of a telephone briefing in which a few — but not many — details were provided.  Two members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle were sanctioned and 17 “entities” that are “affiliated with the oligarchs we designated a few weeks ago, on March 20, including the Rotenberg brothers and Gennady Timchenko.”

Perhaps of more direct important to space activities are export restrictions.  A “senior administration official” says that export license applications at both the Department of State and Department of Commerce have been on hold since the beginning of March and they are being scrutinized to “see which ones involve technology that the Russian defense industrial complex is in need of, and those are the ones that will be denied.”  Microelectronics was cited as one example.

Meanwhile, the State Department said that “effective immediately” the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will “deny pending applications for export or re-export of any high-technology defense articles or services regulated under the U.S. Munitions List … that contribute to Russia’s military capabilities.”  It also will revoke any existing licenses that meet those conditions.    Other pending applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. 

The Obama Administration is in the process of updating export control regulations on commercial satellites, but at the moment they remain on the U.S. Munitions List.   Several Russian rockets, including Proton, Soyuz, Zenit (which is partially Ukrainian), and Dnepr, are used to launch satellites that are manufactured in the United States or contain U.S. components.  Whether the Administration deems them to “contribute to Russia’s military capabilities” is an open question.  Two other interesting facets of the issue are that  International Launch Services (ILS), which markets the Proton rocket commercially, is a U.S.-based company, and the Soyuz rocket is launched not only from Russia, but from Europe’s Kourou launch site in South America a part of a European-Russian arrangement.  The United States wants to present a united front with Europe in imposing sanctions, but Europe has not announced its plans yet.

Note:  this article was updated at 11:00 pm ET on April 28, 2014.

Here is our list of space policy-related events for the upcoming week and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate will be back in session after a two-week spring break with a full agenda of NASA, NOAA and national security space decisions on tap.

During the Week

House committees and subcommittees will be making decisions on budgets and policy for the nation’s space program this week as they mark up appropriations and authorization legislation. (Not sure what a markup is?  Or the difference between an authorization and an appropriation? See our fact sheet:  What’s a Markup?  Answers to That and Other Mysteries of the Legislative Process.)

• Full committee markup of the 2014 NASA Authorization Act (HR 4412) by the House Science, Space and Technology (SS&T) committee on Tuesday (subcommittee markup was on April 9)
• Subcommittee markup of the FY2015 funding bill that includes NASA and NOAA by the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday
• Subcommittee markups of the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act by each of the House Armed Services Committee subcommittees on Wednesday and Thursday (the Strategic Forces subcommittee, which handles most national security space programs, has its markup on Wednesday)

Customarily the House acts on appropriations legislation before the Senate, and, indeed, the Senate Appropriations CJS subcommittee is still holding hearings on FY2015 budget requests for the agencies under its jurisdiction.  Its hearing on NASA’s request is on Thursday. 

Also of interest is a House SS&T Environment Subcommittee hearing on NOAA’s FY2015 budget request on Wednesday.

NASA is engaged in a full court press to articulate the outline of the agency’s plan on sending humans to Mars and how the Asteroid Redirect Mission fits into it.   After meeting with the NASA Advisory Counci a week and a half ago and participating in a three-day Humans 2 Mars summit at George Washington University last week, NASA will hold its own public “exploration forum” at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday afternoon (interestingly, the House SS&T committee is marking up the NASA authorization bill at the same time, which, we imagine, is entirely coincidental).

Lots of other interesting events are scheduled, including a symposium on Capitol Hill sponsored by the American Astronautical Society on Thursday highlighting science experiments conducted on the International Space Station and Women in Aerospace’s annual conference on Wednesday featuring top government officials including Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James.

Here’s the list of everything we know about as of Sunday morning.

Tuesday, April 29

• NASA Exploration Forum on Human Path to Mars, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 12:30 – 3:00 pm ET (will be broadcast on NASA TV)
• House SS&T markup 2014 NASA Authorization Act, 2318 Rayburn, 1:30 pm ET

Wednesday, April 30

• Women in Aerospace (WIA) Aerospace 2014:  Breaking the Mold conference, Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, VA, 8:00 am – 4:45 pm ET
• House Appropriations CJS subcommittee markup, H-140 Capitol, 9:30 am ET
• House SS&T subcommittee hearing on FY2015 NOAA budget request, 2318 Rayburn, 10:00 am ET
• HASC Strategic Forces subcommittee markup FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act, 2118 Rayburn, 12:00 noon ET (other subcommittees are marking up on Wednesday and Thursday — see schedule)
• AIAA Spotlight Awards and Gala Dinner, Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC, 6:30 pm ET

Thursday, May 1

• Senate Appropriations CJS subcommittee hearing on NASA’s FY2015 budget request, 192 Dirksen, 10:00 am ET
• American Astronautical Society symposium on International Space Station (ISS) Utilization, 253 Russell, 1:00-5:00 pm ET (followed by reception)
• BLAST OFF: The Future of Spaceflight, The Explorers Club, New York, New York, 7:00-9:00 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy-related events for the upcoming week and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate remain in recess; they will return April 28.

During the Week

The three-day Humans to Mars Summit 2014 at George Washington University has an all-star lineup of speakers including NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Technology Mike Gazarik, and NASA Ames Center Director Pete Worden.   NASA put out its own press release about the event to let everyone know Bolden will “outline NASA’s human exploration path to Mars” during his keynote address on Tuesday at 9:00 am ET. 

Tuesday is Earth Day.  A chance to celebrate our home planet.   NASA is sponsoring activities all week online and in various locations around the country.  The B612 Foundation chose Earth Day to release “video of data from nuclear-test-ban-organization showing multiple atomic bomb scale asteroid impacts on Earth since 2001.”  Their press conference will be livestreamed from the Seattle Museum of Flight at 11:30 am Pacific (2:30 pm Eastern).

Here’s a list of all the events we know about as of Sunday afternoon.

Monday-Saturday, April 21-27

• NASA Earth Day Events, nationwide and online

Tuesday, April 22

• Earth Day. Celebrate your home planet!  Check local news outlets for announcements of local events.
• B612 Press Conference, Seattle Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA, 11:30 am Pacfic Time (2:30 pm ET), will be livestreamed
  [B612 tweeted on April 21 that this begins at 11:00 am PT, but the press release and B612’s website say 11:00 am PT]   
  • B612 is also co-sponsoring an evening event at the museum, from 6:00 – 7:15 pm PT

Tuesday-Thursday, April 22-24

• Humans to Mars Summit 2014, George Washington University, Washington, DC, will be livestreamed and broadcast on NASA TV (at least portions will be).  (The conference is in different buildings on the various days; consult the agenda for details)

Wednesday, April 23

• Spacewalk to replace failed MDM computer, Earth orbit, 8:55 am ET (NASA TV coverage begins at 8:00 am ET)
• NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, Kennedy Space Center, FL, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm ET 

UPDATE:  The room for Tuesday’s House Appropriations CJS subcommittee hearing on NASA has changed.  Now in 2359 Rayburn. 

The following events may be of interest in the week ahead.  The House and Senate are in session.

During the Week

It’s a busy week in Congress as they try to make progress on a number of legislative issues before going on their Passover/Easter break next week.  Not only are there a number of interesting congressional hearings on tap, but the Space Subcommittee of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee will mark up a new NASA authorization bill on Wednesday, April 9.  The bill doesn’t have a number yet and the draft text is not posted on the committee’s website so far, but the true test will come during the markup to see what amendments are offered.  The markup begins at 9:00 am ET and only one hour is scheduled (there’s a hearing on a different topic in the same room that begins at 10:00 am), suggesting that little debate is expected.  Later that day, across Capitol Hill, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will mark up H.R. 2140 (Heinrich) at 2:30 pm ET.  Its purpose is to improve the transition between experimental permits and commercial licenses for commercial reusable vehicles.

As for hearings, of special note are the House Appropriations CJS hearing on NASA’s FY2015 budget request on Tuesday morning, which will also hear from former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh who chaired a study that looked at security (as in access by foreign nationals) at NASA’s centers.  The next day it has a hearing on the budget request for the Department of Commerce, which includes NOAA.  Also on Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee’s Science and Space subcommittee will hold a hearing on From Here to Mars that includes Susan Eisenhower among the witnesses.   On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations CJS subcommittee will hear from the Department of Commerce, and the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold its annual posture hearing on the Air Force, which probably will include more discussion of U.S. reliance on Russian rocket engines for the Atlas 5.

All of that is happening on Capitol Hill, but tomorrow (Monday, April 7), the action will be out at the University of Maryland conference center where Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) will speak to the Maryland Space Business Roundtable.  One of NASA’s biggest supporters in Congress, she is also one of the most powerful Senators as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee in addition to chairing the appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA and NOAA.

Here are the events we know about as of Sunday afternoon.

Monday, April 7

• Maryland Space Business Roundtable luncheon featuring Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Univ of Maryland Conf Center, College Park, MD, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET

Tuesday, April 8

• ROOM CHANGE House Appropriations CJS Sbmcte Hearing on Security at NASA and NASA’s FY2015 Budget Request, 2359 Rayburn, 9:30 am ET (will be webcast on YouTube and Ustream — see committee’s website for links)
• ISU-DC Space Café Featuring NASA’s Jason Kessler, The Science Club, 1136 19th St, NW, Washington, DC, 7:00 pm ET

Wednesday, April 9

• House SS&T Space Subcommittee markup 2014 NASA Authorization bill, 2318 Rayburn, 9:00 am ET
• Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing From Here to Mars, 253 Russell, 10:00 am ET
• House Appropriations CJS Sbcmte Hearing on FY2015 Budget Request for Dept of Commerce (incl NOAA), H-309 Capitol, 2:00 pm ET
• NASA Advisory Council Science Committee, telecom, 2:00-6:00 pm ET
• Senate Commerce Committee Markup of Legislation, incl S. 2140 (Heinrich), 253 Russell, 2:30 pm ET

Thursday, April 10

• Senate Armed Services Committee Posture Hearing on Air Force, 106 Dirksen, 9:30 am ET
• Senate Appropriations CJS Sbcmte Hearing on FY2015 Budget Request for Dept of Commerce (incl NOAA), 192 Dirksen, 10:00 am ET

 

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, White House science and technology policy official Richard DalBello, and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden all sought to clarify today whether or not NASA is still cooperating with Russia other than in operating the International Space Station (ISS).  At the end of the day, the best answer seems to be that it’s an evolving situation with no clear guidance other than that the ISS is not affected.

Yesterday, a memo from NASA’s Associate Administrator for International and Interagency Relations became public that instructs NASA personnel to suspend contacts with their Russian government counterparts except for activities related to operation of the ISS because of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.  The memo did not explain what stimulated the decision or offer many specifics about how it would impact NASA-Russia cooperation.   Hours later NASA issued an “official” statement that was announced via Twitter with a link to a Google+ webpage that was not helpful in explaining the situation.

The bottom line of the comments today is that the directive applies to all government agencies, not just NASA; that each agency will determine what activities are exempted or not on a case-by-case basis; and it is an evolving situation.  The unambiguous message is that operations of the ISS are not impacted.

Bolden spoke at a long-scheduled joint meeting of the National Research Council’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) and Space Studies Board (SSB) this morning.  He opened his remarks by addressing this issue and saying there was a “firestorm in Moscow,” which he blamed on the media and politics.

He said he spoke with his Russian counterpart, Roscosmos Director Oleg Ostapenko, this morning and both agreed that the ISS should be kept out of the political realm. That ISS is not included in this directive has been made clear since the beginning.  The question concerns other NASA activities with Russia.

NASA has not provided a list of non-ISS cooperation, but, for example, NASA uses Russian wind tunnels for aeronautics experiments and a Russian instrument – the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) – is on the Mars Curiosity rover.  The memo states that NASA personnel can attend multilateral meetings involving Russians as long as they take place outside of Russia, but two major international conferences – the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS) – both are scheduled to take place in Russia this year.  Whether NASA employees will be able to participate is unclear.

Bolden said this morning that his message to his employees is to keep doing whatever they are doing with Russia unless told to stop, including plans to participate in COSPAR (he did not address ICAS).

DalBello spoke to the ASEB/SSB meeting later in the day.  In response to a question, he stressed three points:  this is an evolving situation, it applies across the government, and the ISS is excluded.  He deferred to White House press spokesman Jay Carney as providing the official Administration guidance on the matter.

At his daily White House press briefing, Carney said the following, putting it in context of other U.S. actions with regard to Russia’s annexation of Crimea:

Given Russia’s ongoing violations of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, the U.S. government has taken a number of actions, to include curtailing official government-to-government contacts and meetings with the Russian Federation on a case-by-case basis consistent with U.S. national interests.  We’ve talked about this previously and as we’ve already said we’ve suspended bilateral discussions with Russia on trade and investment, we’ve suspended other bilateral meetings on a case-by-case basis, and put on hold U.S.- Russia military-to-military engagement including exercises, bilateral meetings, port visits and planning conferences.  We also will not meet with sanctioned individuals.  We have informed the Russian government of those meetings that have been suspended, as you know.  In terms of specific case-by-case decisions that are made in response to this broader directive, I would have to refer you to each agency.   In the case of NASA there are some actions being taken, but obviously with the space station, in particular, that program, and engagement with Russia on that program, continues.

The directive that created this guidance to NASA and other government agencies reportedly was issued by the White House National Security Council and is classified and therefore not in the public domain.

Bolden said that relations with Roscosmos are “good” and “healthy.”  As for the Russian government reaction more broadly, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin oversees Russia’s space sector.  He is one of the Russian individuals sanctioned by the Obama Administration on March 17, 2014 because of his role in the Ukrainian situation.  An English-language Twitter account purportedly belonging to him (@drogozin) carried this rather sarcastic message:

NASA suspends cooperation with Roscosmos (Rus Fed Space Agency) apart from work on the ISS http://t.co/IJ0Td5PjEe Yet, apart from over the ISS we didn’t cooperate with NASA anyway)

That account had a separate tweet about U.S. reliance on Russia’s RD-180 rocket engines:

A Russian broom for an American witch. Still, our engines are better) http://t.co/Xf4gM8bR7w

Russia&US go to space together for 50th time. Tomorrow US booster vehicle Atlas 5 equipped with Russian RD-180 engine will be launched across the ocean to carry a satellite

Indeed, the United Launch Alliance sent DOD’s 19^th Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) weather satellite into orbit today aboard an Atlas V, which uses the RD-180 engines.   DOD officials testified to a House Armed Services Committee (HASC) subcommittee this afternoon that they are conducting a 45-day study on what it would take to build a U.S. designed and produced alternative to the RD-180.  (Check back later for our summary of the hearing; meanwhile, the webcast is posted on the committee’s website.)