Roscosmos Expects NASA to Explain Position on Rogozin's Visit to US

The planned visit by Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, to the United States may not just be postponed but cancelled, a source in the rocket and space industry has told Sputnik.

"Dmitry Rogozin's visit should have been, most importantly, a response to the head of NASA's visit to Russia. We hope that NASA will manage to settle all the political issues and the visit will eventually be held, as they have not cancelled their invitation. But if NASA does not manage to do it, the visit will be just cancelled", the source said.

The Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said in a statement that it expected the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to provide an official explanation on its position concerning a visit by a Russian delegation to the United States on the previously sent invitation.

"Roscosmos expects NASA to provide official explanations on its position concerning the organisation of a return visit by the Russian delegation to the United States on the invitation that we have previously received", the statement read.

Roscosmos has not yet suspended its work toward formulating its negotiating position on the sides' cooperation regarding the International Space Station and deep space, the corporation specified. Late on Friday, the press secretary for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) told Sputnik that the visit, initially scheduled for February, would be postponed and a new date would be set later.

This was supposed to be a return visit following a visit by a US delegation.

Issue of Hole in Soyuz MS-09 Not on Agenda
The reasons behind the appearance of a microfracture, which was found on a wall of the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft in August, were not planned to be discussed during the visit of Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's Roscosmos state corporation, to the United States, as the Russian side has already handed all materials on this issue to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), an official Roscosmos representative told Sputnik.

"No, this topic was not planned [for discussion], as we have already transferred all the materials to the US side", the representative said asked a respective question.

On 30 August, the International Space Station's (ISS) crew detected a minor air leak caused by a microfracture on a wall of the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09. The hole was sealed by the crew on the same day, and Roscosmos set up a special commission to investigate the incident. In October, the commission concluded that the incident was not caused by a manufacturing defect. The law enforcement agencies are also engaged in the investigation.

Source: Sputnik News

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Roscosmos chief's visit to US in keeping with historical norms
Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 04, 2019
NASA defended its invitation to Roscosmos Director-General Dmitry Rogozin to speak at the space agency's Houston headquarters in early 2019 from detractors in Washington who say the sanctioned Russian official's visit "sends the wrong message." "The US/Russian relationship in space dates back to the 1970s," NASA spokeswoman Megan Powers said in a statement to Politico January 1. "NASA has historically invited the head of the Russian space agency to visit the United States. Following this pre ... read more