MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/. The United States seeks to pursue its program on developing the Moon based on the same principles as its work at NATO, Head of Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda radio station.
"The outer space exploration starts with the Moon. For Americans this is more about politics. We see that our American partners are refraining from those principles of cooperation and mutual support, which were seen during cooperation on the International Space Station. They [the US] view their program not as international one but more like NATO. This means America first, while others must help and pay. Truly speaking, we are not interested in participating in this project," Rogozin said.
Meanwhile, Rogozin stressed that the mankind’s path towards outer space was irreversible and all technologies should be tested on the Moon.
Despite the current political situation, Roscosmos and US space agency NASA maintain friendly relations, Rogozin noted. "I hope that this cooperation will continue in the future and that it will be less affected by bad political environment, which unfortunately comes from Washington today," the Roscosmos chief said.