Russia Space Program Set Back After Europe Shuns Collaboration
- European Space Agency scraps Mars mission, satellite launches
- Cancellations deprive Kremlin’s Roscosmos of key cash source
The Soyuz MS-20 rocket shortly before launch at Baikonur cosmodrome in December 2021.
Photographer: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images
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Russia’s space program suffered a fresh setback after Europe’s space agency said it is suspending plans to collaborate on a Mars mission because of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The European Space Agency announced Thursday that member countries agreed they cannot continue working with the Kremlin’s Roscosmos on their ExoMars mission, which had been scheduled to launch in late September or early October. The mission was supposed to include a Russian surface platform and launch aboard a Russian rocket.