Cooperation between USA and Russia in the area of space remains close. It was stated by the NASA chief Charles Bolden at an international conference related to preparation of manned flight to Mars, held by the George Washington University and the largest companies of the US space industry, TASS reports.

“Our cooperation and partnership remain close. We continue joint implementation of several projects,” he said.

According to Bolden, NASA and Roscosmos have a “great relationship despite political controversy”. “We have been working in close cooperation with Roscosmos since 1990s – late 1980s,” he noted.

Bolden stressed the importance of joint operation of ISS. “Our technical and scientific cooperation is at the high level. We must be very careful to preserve this progress. Politicians understand full well that we must continue our cooperation in the network of ISS project,” he said.

NASA chief also said that the Russian party “agreed to continue joint operation of ISS until 2024”.

Earlier vice-president of Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Lev Zeleniy, said that all the joint projects in the area of space, launched by Russia and USA several years ago, are being implemented, but all the new initiatives have been put on hold due to sanctions against Russia imposed by USA in connection with the situation in Ukraine. He added that cooperation between Russia and USA in the network of ISS project as well as “some experiments related to studying the neutron background of the Moon and Mars”, are being continued. “Unfortunately, other projects were “put on hold,” the academician said, adding that this refers, in particular, to a USA-Russia working group established in January 2014. The group was focusing on studying Venus.