Russia cuts off rocket engine supply and threatens space station partnership

Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said Thursday it would no longer service the RD-180 rocket engines that are used by the United Launch Alliance, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, to launch national security missions for the Pentagon. It also said it would cut off the supply of the RD-181 engines used in Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, which is used to fly cargo and supplies to the International Space Station. “In a situation like this, we can’t supply the United States with our world’s best rocket engines,” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, said on Russian state television, according to Reuters. “Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don’t know what.” More

(Source: The Washington Post - Mar 4)