Roskosmos has received a request from NASA for extension of the ISS' usage until 2024, TASS reports. The actual agreement on the International Space Station (ISS) will be enforeced until 2020.
The US hopes for cooperation with Russia under the ISS program after 2020 said ISS flight Program Manager at NASA Sean Fuller.
"We have built up a wonderful orbital laboratory and hope that it's potentials will be available after 2020, for us to receive the best results, to continue cosmic exploration and to develop new technologies," – Fuller mentioned in his interview with Russian newspaper "Izvestia".
"Talks regarding the ISS will be continued after 2020."
He has also stressed out that Russian and American biomedical research teams "have been successfully collaborating for many years and will work together in future as well."
"Next March the annual expedition of the astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko to the ISS will start. A number of joint researches are scheduled under the expedition; they will possibly share the results of experiments in order to understand the influence of space on the human body during long missions." – said Fuller. "We expect that the unique space laboratory will be still available for all partners after 2020."
Roskosmos together with the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Foundation for Advanced Studies is developing an entirely new concept for the future of space exploration," – said the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia.
In their turn, the State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said that the United States has been cooperating with Russia in space for a while and hopes this cooperation will be sustained. "We keep on cooperating on a number of issues. We do have some similar materials that we can use in the future, and therefore we hope that we can continue our work with Russia," – added Psaki.
In early April 2014 NASA announced that due to the situation around Ukraine, it has suspended cooperation with Russia in space except for the ISS project.
Source: Voice of Russia
