NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Image: NASA
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Here’s what the plan is, at least for now: Bolden says Russia won’t abandon NASA up there because Americans essentially run the station. So, the plan is, there's no plan.“The big thing the Russians [rely on America for] is day-to-day operations: the environmental control, life support, access to laboratories,” he said. “The people that would be hurt by a break in our relationship with Rescosmos are the Russians.”But Putin hasn’t exactly acted rationally so far and relying on the Russians forever isn’t a great way of doing business. What would make NASA abandon the ISS, Culberson asked?“I cannot foresee of any circumstances short of the national command authority directing NASA and all government agencies to curtail all activities with any branches of the Russian government. That’s the only reason,” Bolden said. “That could happen, but the station is too valuable to too many nations for us to sit around and think about how to abandon it. We need to think about how we maintain our ability to operate there. My answer to you will be the same until the cows come home.”"Realistically here, we have the best contingency plan of anyone. Our contingency plan has a three-year time horizon.”
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