Moscow ready to continue agreement of joint space flights with US

MOSCOW - The head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Friday that he is all willing to extend an agreement with the United States on joint space flights to the International Space Station (ISS), reported German news agency dpa.

A new agreement to allow crossover flights to continue into 2024 and 2025 is being prepared, said Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov, according to Interfax news agency. Moscow had previously said it would cease cooperation with the US in space.

The ISS is one of the few places where the two countries are still working together since the outbreak of the Russian war against Ukraine.

On Friday, for example, US astronaut Loral O'Hara launched her mission into space on board a Soyuz capsule alongside Russian counterparts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. US space shuttles also take cosmonauts along with them as part of the agreement.

Due to the two countries' otherwise extremely strained relationship, Russia recently announced that it would discontinue the cooperation after 2024 and build its own orbiting station.

However, since the construction of a space station takes several years, Moscow later announced that it was considering staying on board the ISS until 2028. - BERNAMA-dpa