Russian space agency head visits US for first talks with NASA since 2018, Russia says
Dmitry Bakanov, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has arrived in the U.S. for the first direct talks with NASA leadership since 2018, Roscosmos announced on July 29.
Bakanov will meet U.S. Transportation Secretary and acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy to discuss further operations and planned deorbiting of the International Space Station (ISS), as well as a cross-flight agreement between NASA and Roscosmos.
NASA has yet to confirm the planned meeting.
The Roscosmos head, who arrived in Houston, Texas, earlier on July 29, also plans to meet the crew of NASA's Crew-11 mission, including Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, scheduled to depart no earlier than July 31.
Bakanov's itinerary will also include visits to the Johnson Space Center and to Boeing production facilities where the CST-100 Starliner starcraft is being developed.
A meeting between the heads of the two space agencies previously took place in October 2018, when the Biden administration temporarily lifted the entry ban on then-Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin.
Space exploration has remained one of the few areas of continued cooperation between Russia and the U.S., even after Washington severed diplomatic ties and imposed sweeping sanctions in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Bilateral ties initially warmed after U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration and his outreach to Moscow. Earlier this year, several Russian officials urged closer cooperation in technology and space exploration with the U.S., namely with Elon Musk's SpaceX company.
Recent weeks saw the U.S.-Russian ties sour yet again as Trump has increasingly voiced frustration with Moscow's rejection of a peace deal in Ukraine and continued attacks against Ukrainian cities.
