Article examines how ISS fosters cooperation and transnationalism despite geopolitical tensions.
The International Space Station (ISS) links politically antagonistic states on Earth that are materially interdependent in orbit. This article examines how the ISS produces a transnational atmosphere through Russian–United States cooperation. Drawing on work on affective atmospheres, it treats atmosphere as both an elemental condition and political relation. Through two moments of potential rupture – the 2018 Soyuz leak and 2022 Roscosmos separation video – it shows how transnationalism becomes visible when the integrity of the ISS is threatened. These events disclose how the station’s atmosphere is held together through coordination around shared infrastructures, translating geopolitical antagonism into practices that keep the ISS in orbit.
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William Stewart (2026) studied this question.
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