The Canadarm 2 reaches out to grapple the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft and prepare it to be pulled into its port on the International Space Station on April 17, 2015. Photo: VCG

Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station to crash, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos warned Saturday, calling for the punitive measures to be lifted.

According to Dmitry Rogozin, the sanctions, some of which predate the Russia-Ukraine conflict, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft servicing the ISS. 

As a result, the Russian segment of the station - which helps correct its orbit - could be affected, causing the 500-ton structure to "fall down into the sea or onto land," the Roscosmos chief wrote on Telegram.

"The Russian segment ensures that the station's orbit is corrected [on average 11 times a year], including to avoid space debris," said Rogozin, who regularly expresses his support for the Russian army in Ukraine on social networks. 

Publishing a map of the locations where the ISS could possibly come down, he pointed out that it was unlikely to be in Russia. 

"But the populations of other countries, especially those led by the 'dogs of war,' should think about the price of the sanctions against Roscosmos," he continued, describing the countries who imposed sanctions as "crazy." 

Rogozin similarly raised the threat of the space station falling to Earth in February while blasting Western sanctions on Twitter.

On March 1, NASA said it was trying to find a solution to keep the ISS in orbit without Russia's help. 

Crews and supplies are transported to the Russian segment by Soyuz spacecraft.

But Rogozin said the launcher used for take-off had been "under US sanctions since 2021 and under EU and Canadian sanctions since 2022."

Roscosmos said it had appealed to NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency, "demanding the lifting of illegal sanctions against our companies."

Space is one of the last remaining areas where the US and Russia continue to cooperate. 

On March 30, US astronaut, Mark Vande Hei, and two cosmonauts, Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, are scheduled to return to Earth from the ISS onboard a Soyuz spacecraft. 

AFP