NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy met with Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, marking the first face-to-face meeting between the U.S. and Russian space leaders since 2018. The talks centered on maintaining cooperation aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and potential collaboration on future lunar missions, according to Roscosmos.
NASA confirmed the discussions focused on “continued cooperation in space” but provided few details. The meeting coincided with a postponed launch of SpaceX Crew-11, a joint mission to the ISS carrying two U.S. astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut, and a Japanese astronaut. Weather delays pushed the launch to Friday morning.
The rare meeting comes amid strained U.S.-Russia relations following the Ukraine war, which forced Moscow to pivot toward China’s International Lunar Research Station after withdrawing from NASA’s Artemis program. Despite geopolitical tensions, the U.S. and Russia continue joint ISS operations due to technical interdependence: Russia provides propulsion, while the U.S. supplies power via solar panels.
Reports suggest the two agencies also discussed extending their astronaut seat exchange agreement, enabling astronauts to fly on each other’s spacecraft, and plans for the ISS’s deorbit scheduled for 2030.
This dialogue signals a potential thaw in civil space relations between the two powers, even as their military space programs remain adversarial. Washington has accused Moscow of testing counterspace weapons and deploying spy satellites, allegations Russia denies.
The ISS, a $100 billion orbital outpost, remains a rare platform of scientific diplomacy, jointly supported by NASA, Roscosmos, and partners including the European Space Agency, Canada, and Japan.