Major US-Russia agreement on international space station, after the first meeting between NASA and Roscomos chiefs in almost seven
International Space Station. Photo: limbitech | Dreamstime.com
The head of the Russian Roscosmos space agency said on Thursday that he had agreed with his NASA counterpart, during US discussions, to extend the operations of the International Space Station (ISS) by 2028, AFP reports.
According to Reuters, it is the first meeting of the leaders of the two institutions after October 2018, when Jim Brididen was at the head of the American agency, and the Russian was led by Dmitri Rogozin.
Space is one of the last areas of cooperation between the US and Russia, against the backdrop of an almost complete collapse of bilateral relations in the context of the war unleashed against Ukraine in 2022.
Roscosmos said earlier this week that the head of the institution, Dmitri Bakanov, arrived in the US for discussions with NASA interim administrator, Sean Duffy, the first such meeting after 2018.
“The dialogue went well. We agreed that we will operate the ISS until 2028 … and we will work on the problem of its orbit by 2030,” said Bakanov, quoted by the Tass News Agency.
Bakanov was to have a meeting with the crew of the NASA Crew-11 mission, including the Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, before launching to ISS on board the Crew Dragon A Spacex.
Crew-11 launch, postponed
According to NASA, the launch of the international astronaut team was finally postponed for Friday due to adverse weather forecasts. Cosmonauts are Oleg Platonov from Russia, Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, respectively Kimiya Yui in Japan.
ISS was created by Russia, US, Europe and Japan, and the assembly started in 1998. It was expected to work by 2024, but NASA said it could continue to operate by 2030.
As part of the wave of sanctions introduced against Russia in response to the Ukraine war, many Western countries have ended partnerships with Roscosm.
Russia's space program, which for decades has been a reason for pride for the country, has been marked for years by a chronic lack of financing and corruption scandals.
Photo: limbitech | Dreamstime.com
