Cooperation in space

I was sorry to read in this morning's FT that the 20 year old collaboration between the US and Russia on the International Space Station is coming to an end. A collaboration which showed that the US and Russia could still work together on big international projects; which taught both them and us that working together was greater than the sum of the parts. Rocky relations in other spheres of interest notwithstanding.

Perhaps the collaboration is coming to a natural end. The space station is old, perhaps getting near the end of its operational life. A new generation of US rockets is coming on-stream, reducing if not eliminating the US dependence on Russian rockets to move people and stuff about. And China has become a space power: so given the politics, not a big surprise that the Russians should be pivoting east.

But it is still a pity. Perhaps when the dust starts to settle a bit, we will learn to collaborate in a similar way on the viral front. Something of more immediate consequence than learning how to grow radishes on the moon.

PS: interesting to see that reference 1 was organised in much the same way as it might have been over here. Easy enough to navigate, even while declining Microsoft's offer of translation.

Reference 1: https://www.roscosmos.ru/. The Russian end of the collaboration.

Reference 2: https://www.nasa.gov/crew-2. The US end of the collaboration.