The impact of war on Earth has been felt in space for the first time in history.
Russia has removed all flags of countries participating in space programmes from a rocket they are launching, except the flag of India, after saying that sanctions imposed by the United States and European nations on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine could result in a crash of the International Space Station.
Russian space agency president Dimitry Rogozin uploaded a video on Wednesday showing employees at the Baikonur launch pad covering up the flags of the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom on the OneWeb rocket, which is set to launch on Friday. India’s flag, on the other hand, was preserved.
“The launchers at Baikonur agreed that our rocket would seem more beautiful without the flags of some countries”
Rogozin stated in Russian after posting the video.
In the video, launchers at the Baikonur launch pad are seen totally concealing the flags on the Soyuz rocket with white vinyl.
Under the OneWeb initiative, the Soyuz rocket is delivering 36 satellites from several countries that will give broadband Internet connectivity. The project’s goal is to put 648 satellites into orbit, and 428 have already been launched, all utilising the Soyuz spacecraft. The project is owned by the Bharti Airtel group and the UK government.
While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues and other nations, including the United Kingdom, have applied sanctions, the Russian space agency has stated that the launch will go ahead. The agency tweeted yesterday that the rocket is being installed at the launchpad in preparation for the scheduled launch on March 5th.
The agency, however, reversed its decision today, holding the launch of the rocket hostage to the current scenario. Now, due to the UK’s sanctions on Russia, ROSCOSMOS has refused to launch the satellite-carrying rocket. The launch of the rocket is conditional on the UK government selling its part in the OneWeb project, and OneWeb providing assurance that the satellites would not be damaged.
They stated that unless OneWeb provides a promise that their satellites will not be utilised for military reasons by March 4 at 21:30 Moscow time, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket will be taken from the launch site.
Another prerequisite for the launch of the OneWeb spacecraft on March 5 is the withdrawal of the British government from OneWeb’s shareholders, according to the agency, due to the UK’s antagonistic posture against Russia.
Stay tuned and updated with Aviationa2z.
