Russian and American space agencies have agreed to fly additional astronauts to the International Space Station

Washington: Apna Punjab Media: Russian and U.S. space authorities have agreed an additional flight for an American astronaut on board Russia’s Soyuz MS spacecraft, Interfax news agency said on Friday, in a rare sign of bilateral cooperation at a time of high tension over Ukraine.
The flight is part of an agreement between Russia’s space agency Roscosmos and NASA in the United States on cross-flights to the International Space Station (ISS).
“One of the Americans has been essentially left (on board the ISS) for two missions. We have added another flight to compensate for the time spent at the station,” Sergei Krikalev, executive director of the state corporation for manned programmes, told Interfax.
This is a mutually beneficial business, we interact with each other and look for the best option. In principle, a good story – the exchange of flights – adds a little reliability to our programme,” he said.
Washington and Moscow have maintained cooperation in space despite relations hitting their lowest in decades over the Ukraine conflict, with astronauts stationed together at the ISS, and also ferried back and forth jointly.