Astronauts and Russian cosmonauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) are focusing on their mission and the things they share in common, Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA said on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th May, 2022) Astronauts and Russian cosmonauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) are focusing on their mission and the things they share in common, Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA said on Tuesday.
"We certainly try to focus on the mission before us and all the things that we have in common, you know, our passion for space, our commitment to this mission and to the Space station program but also you know all the things that bind human beings, you know, all over the world- the love for families, for children, for friends and that's what we cherish and celebrate together," Cristoforetti said when asked whether they are avoiding the subject of Ukraine onboard the ISS.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said earlier that he has full confidence Russia will extend its cooperation with the United States on the ISS based on the continuing close cooperation and warm personal relations between crews from both countries and their control teams back on earth.
Nelson explained he based his confidence on the long and unbroken record of cooperation, partnership and friendship between Soviet and Russian cosmonauts and US astronauts in space for almost half a century.
Nelson also recalled that when veteran Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, commander of the Russian crew on the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975 who died in 2019 at the age of 85, his US counterpart and then lifelong friend astronaut Thomas Stafford was one of the pall bearers at his funeral.
