MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax) - The Academic Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' (RAS) Space Research Institute, RAS member Lev Zelyony, has said he hopes that broader cooperation with NASA will go beyond manned space programs.
Roscosmos First Deputy General Director Andrei Yelchaninov said in an interview with Interfax on Monday that Russia was ready to expand cooperation with NASA, including cross-flights to the International Space Station (ISS).
"It looks like this concerns the manned program in the first instance, but I think it may also apply to everything else," Zelyony said at a press conference on Tuesday.
He described broader cooperation with the United States as a step in the right direction.
"Everyone - both us, other countries, and all of humanity - will benefit from this," Zelyony said.
Roscosmos and NASA signed an agreement in July 2022 on the flights of three Russian cosmonauts on U.S. Crew Dragon spacecraft and three U.S. astronauts on Russian Soyuz MS spacecraft to the ISS in 2022-2024.
Roscosmos said on March 2 that the cross-flight agreement had been expanded to include the additional flight of a Russian cosmonaut on a Crew Dragon spacecraft.