Russia’s astronauts banned from using European Robotic Arm on International Space Station

Russia’s astronauts have been banned from using the European Robotic Arm onboard the International Space Station, as reported on Wednesday, July 13.

Russia’s astronauts will no longer use the European Robotic Arm onboard the International Space Station, due to the European Space Agency’s refusal for cooperation on the ExoMars project.

This was stated by the CEO of Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin:

“In my turn, I instruct our ISS crew to stop using the European Robotic Arm (ERA). Let (ESA Director General Josef) Aschbacher along with his boss [EU foreign policy chief Josep] Borrell fly to space and do at least something useful in their entire lives,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.

“And did this chief of the European Space Agency think that his decision thwarted the labor of thousands of scientists and engineers in Europe and Russia? ”

“Is he ready to take responsibility for sabotaging the joint Mars mission? No, not before irresponsible bureaucrats in the European Commission like him. Is he ready to take responsibility before humankind?” Rogozin wrote.

ExoMars is a joint program of both the European Space Agency and Roscosmos consisting of two projects – the ExoMars TGO orbiter and the Rosalind Franklin rover.

The first stage of the ExoMars project was launched in March 2016. The mission was comprised of the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Schiaparelli landing demonstrator module, which landed on Mars in October 2016.

The news of Russia’s astronauts being banned from using the European Robotic Arm on the International Space Station comes after Ukraine official Oleg Nikolenko, called for Russia to be barred from international space programs, as reported on Tuesday, July 5.

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