Allen Thomson writes:

Russia claims that cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko's photos Aug. 9 were part
of a digital-mapping exercise, done for "humanitarian" reasons. But
some space experts say it is possible the pictures were part of a
military-related reconnaissance exercise that made use of the vantage
point of the orbiting lab complex.

I'm pretty sure that Russia has access to better images from military
sources. They may not be able to *use* them for less than purely
military forces though, while pictures taken on the ISS may be used more
openly. I'm also sure that the pictures *will* be looked at by military
eyes, but so what?

The international partnership agreement that governs the station says
it shall be used for peaceful purposes, though military use is not
prohibited.

I really don't think this is an issue as long as you don't want to make
it an issue.

In the run-up to hostilities, Russian news media reported that water
was scarce in Tskhinvali, the main city in South Ossetia, because
Georgian villagers to the south of the city had diverted sources. Once
fighting broke out, there were reports that international aid
organizations were struggling to get water to people.

Yembrick later declared that the Russians said the photos were part of
a long-standing Earth observation program and that Kononenko also
photographed other parts of Russia as the space station moved east.

Yembrick said the U.S. also has asked astronauts to take pictures of
world events, including in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Naturally.

U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, the top Republican on the House
subcommittee that oversees NASA, wanted more information before
responding.

"By definition, the space station is to be used for peaceful
purposes," he said. "It is a concern when any of our international
space partners use the station . . . for what could be used for
strategy or tactics," he said. "But those lines are awfully gray. Are
you going to stop our astronauts from taking pictures of the Middle
East because there's a conflict there?"

An official with the State Department said it was up to NASA to
"evaluate whether this [incident] is any kind of a violation."

Make it mandatory to publish all pictures taken off the ISS online ;-)


Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery