In early November 2021, Crew-2 ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet photographed the space station from above during the return trip home aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour (NASA/ESA/SpaceX) In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden announced new sanctions Thursday targeting the Russian economy and attempting to cut off access to emerging technology, which could impact the Russian space program, Roscosmos. "Between our actions and those of our allies and partners, we estimate that will cut off more than half of Russia's high-tech imports and will strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize their military," Biden said Thursday. "It'll degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program, and hurt their ability to build ships, reducing their ability to compete economically."While Russian and U.S.
relations have long been strained, the International Space Station where astronauts from America, Japan, Europe and Russia all work and live has been a successful collaboration over the past 20 years.RELATED: Ukraine invasion: What to know as Russian forces head toward KyivWhen the space shuttle program ended in 2011, NASA paid Russia approximately $80 million per seat to launch astronauts to the ISS and bring them home.
Since California-based SpaceX began launching astronauts from Florida in 2019, the U.S. has relied less on Roscosmos for this service.
President Joe Biden spoke for the first time since the Russia invasion of Ukraine. Biden highlighted sanctions against Russia and said direct sanctions of Russian President Vladimir Putin are "still on the table."NASA astronauts regularly train in Russia, and cosmonauts conduct training at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.