NASA Administrator Nelson Describes U.S.-Russian Space Cooperation as ‘Template for the Future’

April 19, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Testifying yesterday at the Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that U.S.-Russian cooperation in space could be “a template for the future.” Space should be the model of cooperation between the two adversaries. According to Interfax, he stated: “There is a very professional, competent relationship between the U.S. indeed and other international partners and the Russians with regard to space. Not only between the cosmonauts and the astronauts onboard the International Space Station.... Not only that, but also the fact that there is a mission control of Americans and Russians—in Moscow, as well as Houston. And it is all working.”

TASS reported Nelson recalling the 1975 Russian-U.S. Soyuz-Apollo experimental flight, and saying: “That set the tone for the civilian space program between otherwise two enemies, two political and geopolitical enemies.” There was also cooperation aboard the Mir orbital station. “And so then we designed and built together the International Space Station.... If we can continue peacefully working together in space, maybe that’s a template for the future.”

Interfax’s coverage included reference to earlier comments from Roscosmos First Deputy General Director Andrei Yelchaninov: “We have established working contact with the Americans, specialists are interacting on a daily basis, and the cross-flight program is working, so we are not going to stop and are ready to broaden this cooperation.” He noted that space is one of the few areas where joint work with representatives of different countries is continuing despite the political situation, “At Roscosmos, we believe that there is no politics in space.”

TASS’s noted that Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev, now Vice Chairman of the Russian Security Council, one not shy about criticizing the West, believes that it is a net positive that Russia and the United States continue to cooperate in manned space flight.