US, Russia Should Build New Partnerships In Space For Next Half-Century - Space Foundation

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd May, 2023) The United States and Russia should seek ways to keep up their cooperation in space amid the heightened geopolitical tensions while also building new partnerships for the next half century, Space Foundation CEO Tom Zelibor told Sputnik.

"Despite our political differences, the fact that we have been working, exploring, learning, and living together in space, as we have for nearly a half century, has built relationships that transcend our politics. My hope is that it continues because the relationships our engineers, scientists, astronauts/cosmonauts, and others have developed during that time frame have shaped a transformational space age," Zelibor said. "We need to find ways for those relationships to remain in place while building new ones for the next half-century."

The twenty-plus years of the International Space Station demonstrate the best path toward success in space exploration and development requires partnerships with other nations, he continued.

"The demands in terms of costs, engineering and operation of those efforts are a burden to be shared because they cannot be carried alone," he explained.

"It will require a global team of talent from international governments and their commercial industries to make our shared aspirations into future reality."

Russia and the US have continued to cooperate in space despite sanctions imposed on Moscow in light of the Ukraine conflict. In March, a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying the Crew-5 mission team, including Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, successfully splashed down off Florida's Space Coast after spending 157 days in space. Kikina became the first Russian cosmonaut to board a US Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of an integrated flights agreement signed by Russian space agency Roscosmos and NASA in July 2022.

At the moment, Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, and Andrey Fedyaev, as well as NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, and Warren Hoburg, and UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi continue to work at the ISS.

The Space Foundation, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is one of the leading organizations in space awareness activities and major industry events.