The U.S. Senate has approved the amendment to the bill on sanctions against Iran and Russia that removed NASA from under the sanctions.
The amendment was approved overwhelmingly, an Interfax correspondent has reported.
Cory Gardner, a senator from Colorado, a Republican, who is one of the authors of the amendment, said the United States would lose a huge share of its space access capabilities if the bill was adopted without the amendment proposed by him.
That amendment is not aimed at sabotaging the bill, but it ensures continual further exploration of space, Gardner said.
Non-approval of this amendment may lead to the termination of some NASA projects, he said.
Senator John McCain, for his part, sharply spoke against the adoption of that amendment, calling it a gift to the Russian defense industry. He said there are always legislators and lobbyists who want cooperation on Russian missile engines to continue and even deepen, he said.
It is known that the United States uses Russian RD-180 engines, which are installed on the PH Atlas 5 of the U.S. United Launch Alliance (ULA). Because of the restrictions on military-technical cooperation with Russia imposed in 2014, the U.S. plans to fully stop using the missile engines. However, according to expert estimations, that will take time.
