Cooperation between the two countries continues, said the head of the organization, Bill Nelson
WASHINGTON, June 15. /TASS/. The cooperation between Russia and the United States in space, despite all the existing contradictions between Moscow and Washington, demonstrates what positive results the two countries can achieve if they go beyond political differences. This was stated on Tuesday by the director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Bill Nelson at a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee of the US Congress.
He said that he had a telephone conversation with the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, on Tuesday, during which he discussed "common interests"with him. "Of course, I mentioned in a conversation with him that it is worth remembering that the two countries on Earth have some difficulties with each other, both the Soviet Union and the United States, and now Russia and the United States, but since 1975 we have been cooperating, and we have not just cooperated, we have also worked and lived together in space," Nelson added.
According to him, cooperation in space, which began with the Soyuz-Apollo flight in 1975, demonstrates what the two countries "can achieve if they go beyond the field of politics." "And it continues," Nelson said.
Earlier, Rogozin said that following a conversation with Nelson on Tuesday, they agreed to hold the first face-to-face meeting in the fall at an international conference.
July 15 will mark 46 years since the start of the first joint space flight of ships from the two countries. Soviet cosmonauts Alexey Leonov and Valery Kubasov were on board Soyuz-19, while American astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand, and Donald Slayton flew on Apollo.
The docking of Soyuz-19 and Apollo took place two days later, on July 17, 1975, over Moscow, and the first space handshake of representatives of different countries took place over the Elbe.
