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Buzzfeed: Final battle In U.S.-Russia relationship is in space

By BuzzFeed.

Published Dec. 19, 2015 at 8:46 pm

Photographers take pictures as Russia's Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 46/47 crew of Britain's astronaut Tim Peake, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut Tim Kopra blasts off from the launch

Photo by AFP

As a Star Wars sequel opens on movie screens, a final space battle over Russian space rockets plays out in the U.S. Senate, pitting maverick Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona against the national security establishment.

McCain lost a fight on Friday, with the passage of the federal government’s $1.1 trillion spending bill that allows for buying an unlimited number of Russian RD-180 rocket engines, ending a ban on U.S purchases of the massive machines.