U.S. – Russian Cosmic Cooperation Unhampered
Despite a looming collapse of U.S.-Russian bilateral relations, the standoff over Ukraine has not had any impact on commercial space ventures and intergovernmental space projects, such as the International Space Station, or ISS.
“We do not expect the current Russia-Ukraine situation to have any impact on our civil space cooperation with Russia, including our partnership on the International Space Station program,” said Sean Fuller, NASA’s director in Russia for human spaceflight.
NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, are no strangers to the political volatility between their countries. “A professional, beneficial, and collegial working relationship [has been maintained] through the various ups and downs of the broader U.S.-Russia relationship and we expect that to continue throughout the life of the ISS program and beyond,” Fuller said.
