Article Posted on : - Mar 31, 2009

File photo of Cosmonaut Gennady I Padalka, pictured near fresh fruit floating freely in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station (ISS). NASA image

MOSCOW (BNS): When US President Barack Obama praised the “international spirit of cooperation” in space while speaking to the space station astronauts a few days ago, he clearly wasn’t aware of the not so pretty picture up there.

Well. All’s not hunky dory in space.

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka in an interview to newspaper Novaya Gazeta, has said that space officials from Russia, the US and other countries require cosmonauts and astronauts to eat their own food and follow strict rules on access to other facilities, such as toilets.

The 50-year-old Padalka, a veteran of two space missions and the new commander in space, said that such rules hurt the crew’s morale and hinder work in space.

When asked for his comments on Padalka’s interview, Russian space agency spokesman Alexander Vorobyov said he would not comment until he looked at the interview.

The Russian newspaper conducted the interview before the cosmonaut blasted off into space last Thursday.

The newspaper quoted the cosmonaut as saying that they were grown-up, well-educated and good-mannered people and could use their own brains to create normal relationship.

“It is politicians and bureaucrats who can’t reach agreement, not us, cosmonauts and astronauts,” Padalka was quoted as saying.

Before embarking upon the present mission, the Russian cosmonaut had enquired whether he could use an American gym machine to exercise. It seems the Russian officials had initially granted permission, but then again reversed their decision just before the blast off, the cosmonaut said.

Media reports state that the standoff over the gym machine appears to mirror the dismal relationship between Moscow and Washington under the former US president George Bush and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Even on the question of sharing food, the new rules compel Russian cosmonauts and US and other astronauts to eat their own food, the report quotes Padalka as saying. He went on to add that they are recommended to use national toilets only.

The Russian cosmonaut also criticized the Russian portion of the station, saying it was backward and nearly seven to 30 years behind in technology as compared to others. After the Columbia disaster in 2003, Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft were the only link to the space station to ferry men and material. Today, Soyuz spacecraft is docked at the station for any emergency evacuation.