The crisis in Crimea may have world leaders on Earth at a high state of attention, but feelings in space are just fine between American and Russian astronauts.
Observers believe the occupation of Crimea by Russia, and the subsequent annexation, won't affect life aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Russia and the United States are leaders among the 15 nations that manage the station. Crew members aboard the ISS currently include space travelers from America, Russia and Japan. Political discussion is sometimes part of life aboard the craft, orbiting almost 250 miles above the Earth.
"We could talk about anything. We'd talk about politics. With something like this going on, I am sure the crew is talking about it, you know, in a friendly way," Leroy Chiao, commander of the ISS for six months, told reporters.
Mike Hopkins, an American astronaut who recently returned from the space station, said he got along very well with his Russian counterparts while he was orbiting the Earth.
Cooperation is essential among astronauts aboard the ISS. The $100 billion spacecraft is dependent on the smooth functioning of the crew, kept in close quarters for months at a time. This ability to work together despite international differences is essential not just from those people in space, but from ground controllers, as well.
Without a launch vehicle capable of bringing humans to space, NASA is currently dependent on Russia to ferry astronauts to the ISS. For each person brought to the station aboard a Russian rocket, the United States pays that nation $70.7 million. The American space agency has been without a way to bring astronauts to the ISS since 2011, when the space shuttle program was retired. A commercial replacement system is not expected to be in operation until 2017. In addition to these costs, NASA supplies a significant portion of the operating costs for the space station.
Expedition 39 is the current crew living aboard the ISS. This mission consists of Russian Mikhail Tyurin and American Rick Mastracchio, as well as Japan's Koichi Wakata.
The space travelers aren't letting the crisis affect their mission, but doesn't mean Crimea can't change life aboard the ISS. Vladimir Putin may decide to cut off flights to the ISS for Americans. That would cripple the ability of NASA to get astronauts to the station.
"It would be a catastrophe. There is mutual dependence and that provides a good motivation to isolate this from the broader issues," John Logsdon, a member of the NASA Advisory Council, told the press.
Most facilities on the ISS are shared between Russian and American crew members, except air conditioning and bathrooms. There are separate lavatories in each module, if they ever do decide to draw a line down the middle of the station.
