Russian cosmonauts unfurled a Soviet flag on Friday during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Usually spared from manifestations of nationalism, the ISS has also experienced tensions since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Oleg Artemyev and Denys Matveev had been in their spacesuits for seven hours working outside the Russian Nauka module of the International Space Station, when they took a break and unfurled a red flag embroidered with a hammer and sickle . It is a replica of the “victory banner”, the flag planted by the Soviet army on top of the Reichstag when Berlin was taken by the Red Army in 1945.
Is this a simple tribute to the upcoming celebration of May 9, in Moscow, on the occasion of the commemoration of the capitulation of Nazi Germany? Or should this be seen as a reference to the war in Ukraine? At present, only the two cosmonauts have the answer, but the gesture makes a lot of noise.
Proof that partnership projects continue
If the ISS has always been spared by terrestrial crises, things are more ambivalent today. This spacewalk, the 53rd on the Russian side, was used to prepare for the installation of ERA, the European robotic arm at the Russian Nauka module. A sign that the partnership projects started before the war are still continuing up there, despite the sanctions and disengagements. But at the same time, a German astronaut, Matthias Maurer, currently on a mission aboard the station, was to participate in this outing, before finally being dismissed.
Already, at the beginning of the month, the Russian cosmonauts had remained in their quarters when a new American crew arrived. Admittedly, this Axiom-1 mission, the first entirely private on board the ISS, was not part of the “official” rotations, but it is customary to welcome any newcomer to orbit.
Space is a medium very attached to symbols, and this gesture has not gone unnoticed, especially since this pitfall was repeated on April 27 when four astronauts arrived, including the Italian Samantha Cristoforetti, by Crew-4. This was a classic crew rotation. The cosmonauts were then sleeping, on the eve of their spacewalk, an activity always very physically exhausting.
Russia could withdraw from the project
Put end to end, these elements raise questions, even if all the astronauts and cosmonauts repeat over and over again that the atmosphere is excellent in orbit. On the ground, however, things are more complicated, because all the cooperation forged with Russia has suffered from the war in Ukraine. So much so that Dmitry Rogozin, the boss of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, now suggests a withdrawal of Moscow from the project.
The next Russian spacewalk, EVA-54, scheduled for May 7, should provide some answers. Samantha Cristoforetti is considered to participate. It remains to be seen whether the same misfortune will happen to her as her colleague from the European Space Agency Matthias Maurer, or whether she will become the first European to participate in a spacewalk under Russian leadership.
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