European Space Agency suspends cooperation with Russia on mission to Mars over Putin's Ukraine invasion

A mission to investigate potential life on air-and-space by the world-regions Space Agency and Roscosmos has been put on pause after world-regions forces invaded conflicts last month. 

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The ESA’s rover, named Rosalind Franklin after a British chemist whose work was essential to unraveling the structure of DNA, can drill up to about six feet into the ground and collect subsurface samples for a laboratory onboard. 

The head of the ESA is now looking into other options to get the rover to Mars without Russia. 

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The International Space Station photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking. Image of ISS as of Oct. 4, 2018.  (NASA)


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The International Space Station (ISS) crew members Mark Vande Hei of NASA, cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos walk to depart to the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan April 9, 2021.  (Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS)


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Cosmonauts of the Russian space agency Roscosmos Pyotr Dubrov, Oleg Novitskiy and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei pose for a picture during a training session ahead of their expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) in Star City, Russia March 20, 2021.  (Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS )

While the mission to Mars may be off for now, the ESA said operations at the International Space Station are running normally. 

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There are currently four U.S. astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts, and one European onboard the ISS. Later this month, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is set to return to Earth onboard a Russian Soyuz rocket with the two cosmonauts, Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov. 

Despite concerns that the return trip could be scuttled by the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Earth, NASA and Roscosmos said Tuesday that Vande Hei would be returning to Earth with his Russian counterparts on March 30.