WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th May, 2021) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) should remain separate from the recently-constituted US Space Force in order to retain its significant global diplomatic influence and leverage, former agency administrator Jim Bidenstine said on Monday.
"NASA really needs not to become part of the [US] military capability because that is what gives us the leverage on the diplomatic side," Bridenstine told a podcast hosted by the Heritage Foundation.
NASA had concluded hundreds of diplomatic agreements with other countries around the world in order to share scientific data and cooperate on major space programs, Bridenstine said.
"NASA has 700 diplomatic agreements with other countries," he said.
NASA's relationship with Russia through Roscosmos, the Federal Space Agency, had always been a strong one and Russians and Americans had been living and working on the International Space Station (ISS) together for more than 20 years, Bridenstine said.
