Opposers on Earth, Americans and Russians together for 20 years in space

It's already 20 years since the US and Russia co-operate at the International Space Station (ISS), a successful agreement unlike their tensions on Earth, caused by the crisis in Ukraine and Syria, or by Russian intervention in the American elections in 2016.

The International Space Station (ISS) dates back to January 29th 1998. On this day, 16 countries signed co-operation agreements in Washington to create, build and use orbital mail.

Cost, $100 billion.

Americans and Russians have since begun fundamental partners of what is the largest space project in the world.

Participants also in the European Union programme, 11 countries are signatories in Washington, including Japan, Canada and Brazil.

The first 419-ton module was set into orbit in November 1998.

“I think the American-Russian partnership for the ISS has been up to almost all expectations”, points out John Logsdon, former director of the Washington Space Policy Institute.

“The US and Russia are two nations operating the one-center control station in Huston and one near Moscow”, he stressed.

Mostly, the station could not have worked in the last seven years without Russian spacecraft “Soyuz” for the transport of American, Russian, Japanese and European astronauts who, through teams of six, ensure a permanent presence aboard.

Since the end of their 2011 spatial ship programme, the US depends exclusively on “Soyuz” for her astronauts.

Washington pays $80 million for the Russian space agency”Roscosmos”, in the time American entities, NASA, ”Book” and” SpaceX”, creating their own cargo ships. They will be operational starting in 2019.

All this makes the partnership between Moscow and Washington essential for the US to maintain the stability of space station”, Logsdon points out.

The two countries need each other, they have imposed a wall around the space station to prevent political problems from affecting this partnership.