What is the plan/policy for what happens on the International space station if the US and Russia happen to go to war for some reason?
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So there are laws of each country, which apply to its nationals and its property; customs that we optimistically call “international law,” some of which are enforced by some countries’ courts (theoretically also by the UN Security Council, but the US and Russian vetoes make that moot if they go to war); regulations of each space agency, which apply to all the crew members it provides (of their own nationality or not); and a Crew Code of Conduct agreed among the space agencies that emphasizes keeping the ISS multilateral and civilian.
Could US or Russian law order their citizens on the ISS to start fighting? It could try. International law says wars are fought by warships, and it would probably treat ISS modules as analogous to merchant ships on the high seas, in which case people who actually boarded the other nation’s modules by force would be committing piracy. Piracy is one of two things you can do that make you a *hostis humani generis,* an enemy of all humankind; the other one is slaving. So making national laws like that would be an extremely public way to bomb your own moral high ground and turn the world against you.
International law also says wars are fought by militaries, not civilians. Even the ISS crew members that have military commissions aren’t on active duty. It might be legally easier (in domestic law, not international) to order them into combat than the civilian ones, I’m not sure. But independent thinking and personal responsibility are requirements for the job, so I have every confidence ISS crew would do what James Blunt did at the battle of Kosovo (yes, *that* James Blunt, and he *was* unquestionably on active duty) and refuse that stupid-ass order.
Meanwhile, the Crew Code of Conduct (see https://www.esa.int/esapub/bulletin/bullet105/bul105_6.pdf ) requires everyone assigned to ISS to “maintain a harmonious and cohesive relationship among the crew and assure an appropriate level of mutual confidence and respect,” without interpersonal or group harassment. There is a Multilateral Crew Operations Panel that has authority to make judgments and apply discipline about that, and in the direst case, “where necessary to ensure the immediate safety of the Crew Members of the ISS, reasonable and necessary means may include the use by the ISS Commander of proportional physical force or restraint.” The conduct code is made binding through the space agencies, which gives its enforcement at least a bit of distance from international politics.
Lastly, if any ISS Partner country got so belligerent as to put another country’s crew members in danger, every signatory of the Outer Space Treaty or the Rescue Agreement would be obligated to give them all possible aid.
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