MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax-AVN) - Last week's decision to cancel restrictions on U.S.-Russian cooperation in the International Space Station (ISS) project was a real breakthrough, Federal Space Agency head Anatoly Perminov said.
"The resolution of this problem is a breakthrough in the Russian-American space cooperation. Interaction in space exploration will go on, and we will build up relations between the Federal Space Agency and NASA," Perminov said in a statement posted on the Federal Space Agency website.
U.S. President George Bush signed amendments to the Iran Non-Proliferation Act of 2000 on November 22.
The act directly linked cooperation between NASA and Russia with Moscow's compliance with the ban on deliveries of commodities, services and technologies that could help Iran to make nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, and ballistic and cruise missiles. NASA was not allowed to transfer large sums of money to the Federal Space Agency for the ISS project without authorization from the president, which also had to be confirmed by a number of congressional committees.
From now on, the bull signed by the U.S. president lifts restrictions on cooperation with Russia on the ISS program, the Federal Space Agency's press service reported.
According to new rules, the NASA is allowed to procure equipment and services for ensuring the U.S. involvement in the ISS program from enterprises and organizations of the Russian missile and space industry until January 1, 2012.
The signing of the bill on amendments to the Iran Non-Proliferation Act was a result of Russian-U.S. high-level accords, achieved thanks to purposeful efforts of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Federal Space Agency aimed at settling the long-standing problem in Russian-U.S. relations, the report reads.
A long break in U.S. space shuttle launches followed the Columbia shuttle crash in February 2003. The second shuttle launch after the Columbia crash has been rescheduled from March 2006 to the summer of that year. Under such circumstances, NASA astronauts can be delivered to the ISS only by Russian Soyuz spacecraft. For this purpose, a space agreement on payment for such services must be signed between the Federal Space Agency and NASA.