NEW YORK, March 8, 2025 (BSS /TASS) - NASA appreciates international cooperation, including with Russia, aimed at maintaining the International Space Station (ISS), Ken Bowersox, head of NASA's manned spaceflight directorate, said.

"Nothing that we do on ISS would be possible without our international and commercial partners that help us maintain the station for the health, safety and useful work of our astronauts and cosmonauts," he pointed out in a briefing dedicated to NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 mission.

"And I can't tell you how much we appreciate that partnership. Same thing goes with our Japanese and Russian partners. They're always there to help us if we need it, and it's great to see the flags of Japan, Russia and the United States on the crew that's getting ready to launch here: Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi and Kirill Peskov," Bowersox noted.

The Crew-10 mission is expected to launch to the ISS aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft on March 12. The crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonaut Peskov, NASA astronauts McClain and Ayers, and Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

In July 2022, Roscosmos and NASA signed a seat-swap agreement allowing Russian cosmonauts to fly to the ISS on US spacecraft and US astronauts to travel aboard Russian spaceships. Roscosmos announced in 2023 that the parties planned to continue cross-flights until 2025 inclusive.