For Whom Will There Not Be a Divorce?

Mikhail Korniyenko: astronaut, member of the International Space Station crew in 2010 and member of the expedition to the International Space Station in 2015 (the flight is scheduled for March 26, with American astronaut Scott Kelly as part of the crew).

In orbit, there is no bone of contention between us and the Americans. Formally, there are separate segments of the International Space Station, but room, control and power are shared. We have already grown to rely on each other so much up there that it would be extremely difficult both technically and economically to fence ourselves off. When a husband and wife live together for 20 years, they already have shared household items, a dacha, car, garage … And then it comes to severing all ties. And here, for both Russia and the U.S., the loss not only of an enormous amount of money but of all the indisputable advantages of international cooperation in space is inevitable. And why? For whom is it beneficial? No matter how you look at it, there is no logic in a “divorce.”

The service life of the International Space Station has been extended until 2024. And rightly so: Even in our scientific research, we don’t divvy things up into what is ours and what is not ours. For example, for the upcoming mission to the International Space Station, I’m scheduled to work on many American experiments that have to do with preparing for flights into deep space. Astronauts are the most peaceful people on the planet because we understand like no one else: We are all earthlings.