Well, he is beholden to the same asshole as Trump.
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It’s orbit has to be adjusted to keep it where it is now and all of the equipment that does that is Russian. So…sorta possible, but not really likely? Would the two cosmonauts go along? I think not. It’s empty Bond villain monologuing
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In fact, when they did a parking shuffle several months back, moving a dragon from one docking point to another, the US astronauts had to board the dragon during it’s completely automated maneuver so that there were never people on board the ISS that didn’t have an escape vehicle.
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The Russian owned Zvezda service module contains the propulsion system that keeps the ISS in orbit. It experiences atmospheric drag and needs periodic lifting maneuvers to remain in orbit. The threat was not to do a targeted planed de-orbit burn, but to just let if fall and see what it hits. It would probably be very hard to accurately target such an irregular shape anyways. A planed de-orbit is in the stations future, but it’s not at a fixed date, so I assume there is theoretically enough fuel capacity, if not enough fuel on board to do the de-orbit. Even if there wasn’t enough fuel to de-orbit, a retrograde burn could put the station past the point it could be re-lifted to a stable orbit. It might take weeks or months to decay enough to actually reenter, but it would be effectively lost.
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Not all of it. My understanding is that it is likely some medium sized chunks would survive re-entry, enough to cause serious damage if they hit anywhere populated. That said, aiming it is not so easy. It’s irregularly shaped, would be coming in at a shallow angle, and will tumble and break apart in unpredictable ways. Generally de-orbit manuevers of large objects target the: [dramatic scifi voiceover] Spacecraft cemetery - Wikipedia between new zealand, south america, and antarctica which is the farthest point from inhabited land because it is so hard to aim.
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Movie plot level threat: The Russians have a ground control override and can de-orbit without anyone on board to assist, someone has to space walk the disconnect the thrusters to save the ISS. (but some one is a traitor, queue Among Us tie in)
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Well, that’s dumb. The drone strikes would start immediately, and there’s no hiding from those.
oh, Russia doesn’t have drones, then?
Can it drop on Mar-a-Lago? Asking for a friend.
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Matthias Maurer, German astronaut; Anton Shkaplerov, Russian cosmonaut; and Mark Vande Hei, U.S. astronaut.
Isn’t it weird that we call Russian space travelers “cosmonauts” in English, but we don’t call the German ones “Raumfahrern”? Why use the native word for some nations and not others?
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Well, in the case of “cosmonaut” it’s because it is a WAY more badass name than “astronaut”
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That was my first thought…followed by what it would do to the neighbors. 
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A lot of it would burn up in the atmosphere. There might only be a less than man-sized chunk of superheated metal blazing in at terminal velocity by the time it hit. I doubt that could hurt more than, I dunno, one person
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Ring me up when the germans construct their own vehicles. The Chinese astronauts are called Taikonauts.
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Er, according to this article it’s not exactly that they are threatening to directly drop it on the US or Europe. They are saying that sanctions would affect their space industry, and that Russia is apparently in charge of a lot of the positioning of the ISS, and without them being able to do that, the ISS’s orbit would eventually degrade. Over a period of years. And that at some point it would de-orbit into a random position within some area which includes the US and Europe and also China and India. And that NASA could possibly find a way to stop it themselves in time. And that this guy tends to say provocative stuff like this. But still, I guess. Russian space director’s wild threats could have real implications for the ISS - The Verge
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We should offer the two cosmonauts asylum, because clearly they are being threatened by officials from their own country.
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Does this mean Tom Cruise’s movie is cancelled?
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Kleptocracies have a way of placing unqualified imbeciles into important positions.
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Just came across this article on the ways Russian aggression in Ukraine will impact spaceflight.
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Of course they do. Crappy ones.
