NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced today that the U.S. would renew its agreement with Russia on joint flights to the International Space Station perhaps sometime next year. Nelson recalled the joint management of the space stations, in which Russia was responsible for propulsion and the American side was responsible for power supply. “Naturally we need both crews there,” he said.
Then he noted how this was a phenomenal example of the cooperation between our two nations, almost waxing nostalgic. “This is one of the phenomenal things in history: Russians and Americans have been cooperating in space since 1975—Apollo-Soyuz. Then Russia built the first space station. Then they built Mir and invited the American Shuttle to dock. Then we built the International Space Station together.”
