THE work between Russia and the United States on the International Space Station (ISS) is a “phenomenal example” of cooperation between the two countries, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told Sputnik on Monday.

“This is one of the phenomenal things in history because we have been cooperating — the Russians and the Americans — have been cooperating in space ever since 1975 Apollo-Soyuz,” Nelson said.

In April, Nelson said in a congressional testimony that the US space agency requested additional emergency funding from Congress to start preparing a spacecraft to deorbit the ISS and bring its remains safely to Earth after 2030 if space cooperation with Russia breaks down before then.

Current plans anticipate that NASA and the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos will work closely together to safely deorbit the ISS so as not to threaten any populated areas on Earth, the NASA chief said in April. — SPUTNIK