NASA admits the reduction of its representations in Russia, RIA Novosti reports, citing sources in the rocket and space industry.
According to them, this is due to a decrease in the level of cooperation on the International Space Station (ISS).
One of the interlocutors noted that “first of all, the staff working in Star City at the Cosmonaut Training Center will be laid off, which is associated with the termination of regular flights of NASA astronauts on Russian rockets and Soyuz spacecraft.
Another source said that now American representatives at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) will not be there permanently, but only in case of necessary meetings.
The third interlocutor noted that “it is planned to fire almost all employees from the NASA headquarters in Moscow, but the Johnson Space Center office” will continue its work.
In May 2020, the then head of NASA Jim Bridenstein said that the United States is interested in cooperating with Russia in the exploration of the moon.