Russia Might Abandon a U.S. Astronaut on ISS, but NASA Is Worried About Pronouns

An American astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is now in the middle of the Russia/Ukraine conflict as the sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies over Russia’s invasion into Ukraine could potentially destroy cooperation.

U.S. astronaut Mark Vande Hei is scheduled to return to earth next month, but Russia is threatening to leave him behind on the International Space Station (ISS) over U.S. sanctions.

“Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s Space Agency and a close ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded to Biden in a series of hostile tweets,” reports ABC News. “On Feb. 26, he posted a video in Russian that threatened to leave Vande Hei behind in space and detach Russia’s segment of the space station altogether.”

NASA has yet to comment on the threats, but have no fear; everything is okay because NASA is entirely focused on the key problem of the day: gender pronouns.

I’m not joking. On the same day ABC News reported about Russia’s threats to leave Vande Hei behind, NASA announced its new Gender Pronouns Project.

We're committed to supporting the right of every employee at NASA to be addressed by their preferred name and pronouns.

Click here to read a statement from our Office of Diversity & Equal Opportunity in regards to a recent gender pronouns IT project: https://t.co/Z8Q1H0WIND pic.twitter.com/MlHDJWCrhL

— NASA (@NASA) March 10, 2022

“Through an effort to create a more inclusive workplace, NASA recently completed an IT project at Goddard Space Flight Center that allowed approximately 125 employees to test the option of including their gender pronouns in NASA’s email display fields — which currently includes each employee’s name, center, and an organizational code,” a statement from NASA reads. “The learnings from this test will be used to inform the advancement of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.”

As geopolitical tensions threaten the longstanding relationship between Russia and the United States aboard the ISS, threatening the safety of one of our astronauts, NASA is keeping its priorities straight by being “fully committed to supporting every employee’s right to be addressed by their correct name and pronouns.”

“All NASA employees currently have the option and flexibility to include their gender pronouns in their customized email signature blocks,” the statement continues. “This option remains unchanged and is supported by NASA leadership so that employees can share their gender identities and show allyship to the LGBTQIA+ community.”

Pray for U.S. astronaut Mark Vande Hei.