Picture of the recent Super Moon , via International Space Station's Russian Cosmonaunt Oleg Artemyev

A Soyuz capsule returned to Earth last week with it's international cosmonauts , Russian Mikhail Tyurin , American Rick Mastracchio and Japan's Kiochi Wakata has spent 188 days orbiting the planet on the international space station

As is customary , the trio were lifted out of their craft and put in chairs , thumbs up and smiles all around , the picture of co operation

But the space programe is increasingly wearing a frown also , as the fallout from Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea touches all aspects of international relations

And not even 400km above the Earth , it seems can you escape from geopolitics

For the moment the orbiting platform continues to sail serenely around the globe at 27,000 km/h but on Earth things are a little bumpier

A series of tit for tat gestures is raising tensions

The U.S. put restrictions on it's federal officials meeting with their Russian counterparts , and banned some technology exports ,this could have had a major impact on the U.S. space agency (N.A.S.A) and it's dealing with it's Russian counterparts Roscosmos but the White House said matters relating to the space station wer exempt , and that's where most co operative activity between the pair takes place

Now , the Russian's have hit back by saying they will stop the export of rocket engines to the U.S. if they're to be launch Americain military hardware , something they routinely do when attached to the first stage of the Atlas rocket

Several of these vehicles a year will loft spacecraft  for the U.S. Air Force , or the National Recconaissance Office (NRO)

Russia is also threatning to shut down monitoring stations on it's soil that support services based on Americain Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites , although Moscow says this is more directly a response to Washington's refusal to allow stations to be built on U.S. soil to support Glonass , the Russian's own sat/nav network

There's talk too of Russia perhaps not agreeing to extend space station operations beyond 2020 something the rest of the international partners on the project would like to do

Stirring the pot is Russia's deputy Prime Minister , Dmitry Rogozin , who is in charge of space and defence industries

Just in taken within the past 24 hours Seoul , Korea & Jiuquan , China  as seen from N.A.S.A'S International Space Station

Major Peake has launched a Competition to design a tasty meal for his mission to the International Space Station (I.S.S.) next year

The winning contestants will develop their ideas further with Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal

The judges will be looking for fun and healthy menus that have an element of "Britishness"

Major Peake tactfully told reporters that the food on the I.S.S. was not as nice as it could be , it is nutritious but some of it is mushy  , it lacks taste and texture , he added

He wants school children to come up with something better , which he proposes to eat during  his six month mission

"You don't want a mushy paste , you want something with texture and a crunch to re create memories of eating food on Planet Earth

Much of the food sent up to the I.S.S. is dehydrated and contained in vacume packs to save space and weight , the crew then adds water and often eat the food straight from the pack , or suck gloopy mixtures through straws

Astronauts often lose their sense of smell , which deminishes the sense of taste , this is because blood flows to their heads owing to the lack of gravity , and this causes their faces to swell and blocks their noses

Spicy foods are therefore popular on the I.S.S. , with the Russian crews particular requesting ample supplies of hot sauce

The use of salt is kept to a minimum , because it inhibits bone formation in space  , and anything crumbly is strictly prohibited , small particles can float out through the space station and get into the eyes of astronauts and into the machinery

The Competiton is being organized by Jeremy Curtis of the U.K. Space Agency , he hopes that school children will be able to re invent the image of British Cuisine through some stunning entries

The Competition is open to classes , other groups such as after school clubs , Scouts , Guides and individuals

There are two categories , one for primary  level children and one for secondary level children , with one winner from each category

Entries must be submitted by Noon on the 30th of June 2014 to the U.K. Space Agency @ http:www.spacedinner@ukspaceagency.bis.gsi.gov.uk