Elon Musk says SpaceX will rescue the International Space Station and keep it from plummeting to Earth if Russia attempts to sabotage

As the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine reach a new level, the head of the Russian space agency Dimitry Rogozin warned last week that the International Space Station (ISS) is at risk of deorbiting and crashing if cooperation between the US and Russia in space collapses.

Should the US cut off Russia’s access to certain space technologies needed to keep the ISS operational, Rogozin said the result could involve the Russians allowing the station to deorbit and crash. He also added that Russian tech and expertise are needed to prevent the ISS from crashing down onto the US or Europe.

In a tweet, Rogozin asked: “If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States & Europe.”

мусором, коим ваши талантливые бизнесмены загадили околоземную орбиту, производится исключительно двигателями российских грузовых кораблей "Прогресс МС". Если заблокируете сотрудничество с нами, кто спасёт МКС от неуправляемого схода с орбиты и падения на территорию США или…

— ROGOZIN (@Rogozin) February 24, 2022

Musk later weighed and replied to Rogozin’s threat with the SpaceX logo. Musk also responded to multiple Twitter users. One person asked Musk if this indicated SpaceX would keep the ISS from plummeting to Earth. Musk replied: “Yes.”

Yes

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2022

The tech billionaire also responded to another tweet from an editor of NASASpaceflight.com who shared a picture of what the ISS would look like without the Russian Segment attached and a SpaceX Dragon docked on the station to provide re-boost capability and attitude control. “Good thread,” Musk tweeted in response.