Head of Roscosmos Dmitry Bakanov has arrived in the United States for talks with NASA leadership – the first in-person meeting between the sides since 2018, Reuters reports.
Roscosmos is the State Corporation for Space Activities of the Russian Federation, responsible for overseeing the country’s space program. It manages rocket launches, space exploration, and the development of space technologies. The agency is involved in both civilian and partially military projects and plays a key role in international collaborations such as the International Space Station (ISS).
The negotiations will take place in Houston with the participation of acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. The parties will discuss the continuation of joint flights, the future of the International Space Station, and preparations for its safe deorbiting.
According to Russian news agency TASS, Dmitry Bakanov also plans to meet with the Crew Dragon mission team, which includes Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. The Crew-11 launch is scheduled for July 31 from Cape Canaveral.
As part of the visit, Bakanov will tour the Johnson Space Center and Boeing’s production facilities, where the Russian delegation will hold discussions on joint space projects.
The last meeting at the level of space agency heads took place in 2018, when Dmitry Rogozin met with Jim Bridenstine at Baikonur.
Earlier this week, Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov announced that the corporation plans to develop a reusable rocket similar to Elon Musk’s SpaceX in order to make space launches more cost-effective.
“With Musk’s rocket, he’s proving that previously the first stage would burn out, detach, fall, and go to scrap. Now, the first stage is used multiple times, and this leads to enormous cost reduction and massive savings,” Bakanov said in an interview, according to The Moscow Times.
According to him, the technical assignment for developing this technology was signed only in June, and it will take about one and a half to two years to complete.