MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Head of the Federal Space Agency Anatoly Perminov will fly to Montreal to discuss prospects of International Space Station (ISS) construction and use with his colleagues from other nations operating the ISS, the agency's press service reported on Friday.
"Perminov's working trip to Canada which starts on January 24 will feature a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings. The visit will end with an official meeting of space agency chiefs from the U.S., Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada," a press service official told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Among the issues to be discussed is further ISS configuration, completion of its construction and further operation, as well as resumption of U.S. space shuttle flights in May 2005, preparations for commissioning of a new-generation European ATV cargo spaceship and the commissioning itself, he said.
Earlier reports said that the Federal Space Agency may raise the issue of changing the funding order of Russian Progress and Soyuz spacecraft flights at the next meeting of ISS project participants. Russia has been responsible for most of the ISS activity sustenance efforts since the Columbia shuttle disaster on February 1, 2003.
The Russian delegation will round up its visit to Canada on January 28, the official said.
In addition to Perminov, the Montreal talks will involve President of the Canadian Space Agency Marc Garneau, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, Director General of the European Space Agency Jean-Jacques Dordain, and President of the Japanese Space Research Agency Keiju Tachikawa.