Biden Targets Aerospace and Space Sector in Russia Sanctions 

President Biden announced sanctions against Russia on Thursday in response to its invasion of the Ukraine, specifically targeting strategic sectors of Russia’s economy including aerospace and its space program. 

“Between our actions and those of our allies and partners, we estimate [sanctions] will cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports. It will strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize the military and degrade the aerospace industry, including their space program, and hurt their ability to build ships, reducing their ability to compete economically. It will be a major hit to Putin’s long-term, strategic ambitions,” Biden said in an address on Thursday afternoon. 

Biden said the U.S. and fellow G7 leaders have frozen access to Russia’s largest banks and state-owned enterprises. NATO is meeting on Friday to outline its next steps. 

Biden did not mention NASA specifically, but NASA collaborates directly with Russian space agency Roscosmos on the International Space Station. There are currently both U.S. and Russian astronauts on the ISS right now. NASA used to rely on Russia to transport astronauts to and from the ISS, but regular SpaceX Crew Dragon flights have restored that capability to the U.S. 

Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin responded to Biden’s speech in a Twitter thread. He said the U.S. already blocked Russian access to radiation-resistant space microelectronics in 2014, and Russia will expand its own production of components to deal with sanctions. Rogozin also said the engines of the Russian Progress cargo ships control the ability to correct ISS orbit to avoid dangerous debris. “If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States?” 

Speaking Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that while he has been supportive of collaboration with Russia on artistic and scientific measures, “in the current circumstances, it’s hard to see how even those can continue as normal,” when asked about ISS collaboration. 

Also on Thursday, NASA officials held an update on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket which will take astronauts to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program as the agency prepares for an upcoming refueling test. NASA officials said they are not aware of any hardware on the vehicle sourced from Russia.