Rosaviakosmos Against Revising Agreements With US NASA

Russia's airspace agency /Rosaviakosmos/ does not think that its agreements with the American NASA need revising, said press secretary of Rosaviakosmos Sergei Gorbunov. The revision of the fundamentals of cooperation with NASA was suggested Thursday by President of the Russian space corporation Energiya, academician Yury Semenov. He came up with this statement after NASA Director Daniel Goldin expressed dissatisfaction with the flight of American space tourist Dennis Tito to the international space station /ISS/ as a member of the Russian crew. The Rosaviakosmos official stressed that academician Semenov had formulated a personal viewpoint but not that of the Russian space agency. As Rosaviakosmos has not received any official documents confirming dissatisfaction with Tito's space tour, Goldin's statement and the Russian academician's response can be construed as nothing but an emotional swap of opinions, said Gorbunov. In his words, when Tito returns to Earth, the Russian side will be ready to hear all the US complaints in case they are proved and grounded.