The Russians have big ambitions for their space program. They are planning a new space station to replace their share of the International Space Station when it ends its operational life around 2030. They have made an alliance with China to participate in its lunar base project, with a nuclear reactor to power it. The question arises, then: Is Russia in any position to fulfill these and other ambitious objectives? A recent study from the Foreign Policy Research Institute casts some doubt. It notes that “multiple factors have made the sustainable development of the Russian space program impossible.” The issues include “sanctions, an embargo on advanced industrial equipment, workforce shortages, limited financial resources spread among too many projects, cancellation of space cooperation with Western partners except operations on the International Space Station and the economic inefficiency of the Russian space industry.” The article suggests that the current decline in the fortunes of the Russian space program dates back as early as 2014, when Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine, and certainly from 2022, when Russia invaded its neighbor with a goal of conquering it. Truth be told, the Russian space program has not been the same since the fall of the Soviet Union. The decline dates back to the 1966 death of the famous “chief designer,” Sergei Korolev, the father of the Soviet space program and, ironically, given recent events, a Ukrainian. As a result of Korolev's death after a botched operation, the Soviets lost the race to the moon three years later. Ars Technica mentions another symptom of the Russian space program’s doldrums. Recently, the Russians launched a rocket from the R-7 family of launch vehicles for the 2,000th time. The R-7, designed by Korolev, was Russia’s first intercontinental ballistic missile. It was used to launch the first Sputnik in 1957. An improved version of it launched Yuri Gagarin into space. Russia has been relying on variants of the R-7 ever since. As Russian rocket development has stagnated, the U.S. has increasingly relied on cost-competitive launch vehicles built by SpaceX and Rocket Lab. Blue Origin’s New Glenn is in the middle of testing and SpaceX’s Starship is in development. Still, Russia might have restored some of its lost space glory. The alliance with NASA on the space station was mutually beneficial. The U.S. got a foreign policy rationale for the space station that finally convinced enough members of Congress to approve funding. Russia was able to maintain cosmonauts in space after the Mir space station ended its operational life. Russia might have offered to participate in the Artemis program to return to the moon and go on to Mars. But Russian President Vladimir Putin had other priorities and chose poorly. Money that Russia is spending in its futile attempt to conquer Ukraine could be spent buttressing its space program. Moreover, skilled Russian engineers and scientists are leaving Russia for fear of being fed into the Ukraine meat grinder. Western sanctions, which are bound to increase with the reelection of Donald Trump, are not helpful, either. The situation that Russia finds itself in has provided an opportunity for Trump, should he take it. Trump pledged to end the war in Ukraine. He could sweeten the deal by making Putin an offer he can’t refuse.  If Putin were to come to terms with Ukraine, ending his war of conquest, Trump could offer Russia a role in the Artemis program in exchange. The incoming U.S. president could point out that Russia has prospered as a result of the International Space Station partnership. Without that partnership, Russia would not be any kind of space power, If Putin were to agree to peace in Ukraine, Russia could see cosmonauts on the lunar surface in the near future — something that the Soviet Union tried and failed to accomplish in the 1960s race to the moon. Russia would enjoy access to American technology and American commercial providers such as SpaceX. Russia would also be obliged to sign the Artemis Accords, joining a growing community of nations pledged to the peaceful exploration and economic development of space. As a happy side effect, Russia’s nascent space alliance with China would be broken, leaving that country isolated. Russia would be presented with a choice. On the one hand, war and ruin. On the other hand, peace and prosperity. Let’s hope it chooses wisely this time. Mark R. Whittington is the author of “Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?” as well as “The Moon, Mars and Beyond,” and, most recently, “Why is America Going Back to the Moon?” He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.