WATCH: Putin is now ruining space too

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According to the TMRO Space Pod, Ukraine’s space industry is on the verge of collapse. I know what you’re thinking: “Ukraine has a space industry?”.

Turns out it does – and it is rather important, and a major manufacturer of rockets. Unfortunately, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Crimea and support for rebels in Eastern Ukraine has gone and messed this up – with a major rocket manufacturer facing bankruptcy following sanctions levied by Ukraine against Russia, which was previously a big rocket customer.

The implications aren’t just dire for Ukraine – but it could screw the rest of us too, as the European Space Agency also uses Ukrainian rockets, and heck, less space exploration is basically bad for humanity as a whole.

The news follows a dick-move pulled by Putin a few weeks ago, when he threatened to pull Russian support for the International Space Station, and go off and form his own space station instead (with blackjack and hookers, no doubt). Basically our only hope for space exploration now seems to be a new Cold War with a new Space Race – we just need tensions between the west and Russia to increase enough to send rockets to Mars, but not enough for it to kill us all in a nuclear armageddon.

Check out the video at the top to find out more.

James O’Malley
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