Moscow [Russia], July 15 (ANI): Despite mounting tensions due to the Ukraine conflict, Russia and US decided to resume International Space Station (ISS) flights together.

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos and the US space agency, NASA signed an agreement for astronauts and cosmonauts cross flights to the ISS on Russian-made Soyuz ships, the Russian space agency said on Friday.

“On Thursday, July 14, 2022, the Roscosmos state corporation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed a deal on the integrated flights of crews on Russian and the US manned transport spacecrafts,” Roscosmos said in a statement on Telegram.

It is noted that the deal serves the interests of Russia and the United States and is supposed to facilitate the development of ISS cooperation and the realization of space exploration projects for peaceful purposes, reported Sputnik.

The statement claims that the deal aims to guarantee the presence of one Roscosmos cosmonaut and one NASA astronaut on the ISS to operate the Russian and US segments of the station, respectively, in case of an emergency situation when flights of Russian or US ships are cancelled or seriously delayed.

For nearly a decade, Russia’s Soyuz vehicles had been the only means of getting astronauts to and from the space station.

The US still has previously purchased seats on Russian vehicles for NASA astronauts, however, and there are tentative agreements for US astronauts to ride on Russian Soyuz vehicles and for Russian cosmonauts to fly with SpaceX in the future, after SpaceX debuted its Crew Dragon capsule in 2020, reported CNN. (ANI)