WASHINGTON, July 24. /TASS/. Space collaboration can bring Russia and the United States together, as well as help maintain dialogue amid sanctions, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the NASA's 60th Anniversary occasion on Monday.
In his opening address, Bridenstine noted that after Washington imposed sanctions against Russia, there was "one piece that had to be carved out, and that was space." "Why? Because that is our best opportunity to dialogue when everything else falls apart. We got American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts dependent on each other on the International Space Station, which enables us to ultimately maintain that dialogue," he emphasized.
After the US halted space shuttle flights in 2011, NASA astronauts have been delivered to the world’s sole orbiter by Russian Soyuz manned spacecraft. In February 2017, NASA signed an agreement with Boeing enabling astronauts to get an additional five seats aboard Soyuz spaceships in 2017-2019. The contract between NASA and Boeing is worth a total of $373.5 mln. Boeing has bought those seats from Russia’s Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation as part of settling a legal dispute involving the Sea Launch joint project.