An interesting data point on space activities took place a few weeks ago. The Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko snapped hundreds of images of the Georgian-Russian conflict zone during ISS overpasses of the region, according to NASA.
Robert Block, the space reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, alerted me to this situation and subsequently wrote a story. Cosmonauts Photos of Georgia Spur Inquiry
Certainly there is little military value from the use of commercial digital cameras from hundreds of miles away from the field of action. But testing is testing, and thinking through low-cost innovative means to gather information is a long-term process.
During the build-up to space station Freedom, NASA tried to get the Air Force interested in using the space station as an observation post, but no one within the Pentagon was interested.
More than likely it was probably nothing more than a bit of curiosity on the part of Russian space officials, to see the field on their own. At least, lets hope. We certainly don't need the conflicts on earth to spread onto an international facility such as the space station.
Jeffrey
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