WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd May, 2023) The ongoing joint work by the United States and Russia on the International Space Station (ISS) despite the western sanctions against Moscow can lead to more collaboration between the two countries, Space Foundation CEO Tom Zelibor told Sputnik.
"The fact that both nations continue to train and work together on the International Space Station, despite the ongoing tensions and sanctions between our nations, allows us to continue to build the relationships we need to move forward in the future," Zelibor said. "Those types of collaborations allow for future projects and partnerships to expand so that when relations are better between our two countries it can enable even more cooperation to begin."
Zelibor also said as important as the relationship between cosmonauts and astronauts is, so too are the relationships between respective engineers, scientists, ground control station operators and others.
"While the cosmonauts and astronauts are often the most public faces of our respective space programs, none of them can do their missions on their own. There are many others who make their missions to space a possibility," he said. "At Space Foundation we have a phrase, 'No one goes to space alone.'"
It takes a team of diverse talent, Zelibor added, to make any space mission possible, and continuing the relationships we have that allow for shared training, operations, research, and other activities is important to both of our successes in space.
In March, a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying the Crew-5 mission team, including Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, successfully splashed down off Florida's Space Coast after spending 157 days in space. Kikina became the first Russian cosmonaut to board a US Crew Dragon spacecraft.
At the moment, Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, and Andrey Fedyaev, as well as NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, and Warren Hoburg, and UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi continue working at the ISS.
The Space Foundation, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is one of the leading organizations in space awareness activities and major industry events.
