WASHINGTON — After Russia annexed Crimea last year, Congress passed legislation that forced the Pentagon to stop buying Russian rocket engines that have been used since 2000 to help launch U.S. military and intelligence satellites into space.
The ban applies only to national security missions, but the Pentagon’s request has also frustrated those who have pressed to end U.S. reliance on Russia for NASA and commercial spaceflights, at a time when relations between the two countries have become tenser than in any other period since the Cold War.
The Pentagon’s position, however, has powerful support from the nation’s intelligence chief, James Clapper, …read more
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
