Roscosmos, NASA deem important to ensure continuity of human missions - Russian space official

MOSCOW. April 9 (Interfax) - Russia's Roscosmos state space corporation and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) consider it important to ensure the continuity of crewed missions to orbit so as not to lose experience, Roscosmos Deputy CEO Sergei Krikalev said.

"When working on the design for a future ROS [Russian Orbital Station] or other future stations that would fly, we need to maintain this connection to avoid any breaks, so that we don't start from scratch, to ensure continuity in passing down knowledge and experience," Krikalev said at a session during the Russian Space Forum.

He recalled that the United States had concluded one of its space programs while the next one was not ready yet some time ago.

"We've discussed this several times with our American counterparts. Both NASA and we consider it crucial to ensure a continuous human spaceflight program," Krikalev said.

On July 31, 2025, the heads the Russian and U.S. space agencies held their first talks since 2018 to discuss the future of the ISS. As was reported, the parties agreed to operate the ISS until 2028 and schedule its deorbiting for 2030.

On April 12, 2025, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Bakanov announced an agreement with NASA to synchronize dates for concluding work on the ISS.