I see... So NASA's already paltry budget has been refocused to serve the imperial objectives of the military and the intelligence complexes.

On the plus side - perhaps this is the only way the US government is willing to spend more taxpayer money on NASA. Enjoy your new cold war.

This must be pretty nerve-racking for the Americans and Russians on the ISS. I'd like to believe that they care more about the science than the politics of it all. And judging by the quote from a NASA scientist in the article, that seems to be the case.

Ug, NASA collaboration used to be about building bridges even during times of tension. It's sad to see this being reverted in service of politics.

> Ug, NASA collaboration used to be about building bridges even during times of tension

That cooperation waxed and waned with the political winds during the cold war; and was mostly pretty feeble except toward the end of the cold war (and even then, it was cancelled in general -- with the same kind of case-by-case exception allowed by the new policy directive -- in response to the Poland martial law crisis in the 1980s.)

Its not really all that surprising (or inconsistent with its historical character) that a major reverse in relations at the broader level is reflected in a similar reverse in space cooperation.