“We deeply regret the human casualties and tragic consequences of the aggression against Ukraine. While acknowledging the impact on scientific exploration of space, ESA is fully in line with the sanctions imposed on Russia by its Member States,” the agency said in a statement issued on Thursday (17).
During a meeting in Paris, the ESA governing board “recognized the current impossibility of carrying out cooperation with Roscosmos, the Russian special agency, on the ExoMars rover mission with launch in 2022, and determined that the ESA Director General take appropriate measures to suspend cooperation activities accordingly,” he said.
Despite suspending the mission to Mars, ESA said the International Space Station program “continues to operate as planned, with the primary objective of continuing the safe operations of the ISS, including maintaining crew safety.”
Currently, the International Space Station is crewed by two Russian cosmonauts, four NASA astronauts, and a European astronaut living and working aboard the orbiting outpost.
In light of the situation in Ukraine, the agency’s director-general will convene an extraordinary session of the ESA governing council in the coming weeks “to present specific proposals for decision by Member States”, according to the statement.
Source: CNN Brasil
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