Cooperation between the United States and Russia in space may become a model for future development of bilateral relations, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has said.
He told the Senate Appropriations Committee of the US Congress on Tuesday that the US and its partners were maintaining "professional, competent relationship" with Russia with regard to space. This is reflected in joint work of US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and in the Russian-US seat swap agreement.
Nelson recalled the Russian-US Soyuz-Apollo experimental flight.
"That set the tone for the civilian space program between otherwise two enemies, two political and geopolitical enemies," he said, also mentioning the Russian-US cooperation aboard the Mir orbital station.
"And so then we designed and built together the International Space Station," he said.
"If we can continue peacefully working together in space, maybe that's a template for the future," the NASA chief added.
The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, believes it is a net positive that Russia and the United States continue to cooperate in crewed space flights.
