Russia's Federal Space
Agency chief Anatoly Perminov said in a statement that the U.S. action
represented a "breakthrough in U.S.-Russian space cooperation.''
The U.S. Congress has
recently amended the Iran Nonproliferation Act (INA) of
2000 that penalized Russia and other countries that sell unconventional weapons
and missile technology to Iran, allowing NASA to pay the Russians for services
necessary to operate the station until 2012.
Russia's Soyuz crew
capsules and unmanned Progress cargo ships have been the ISS' lifeline since
the U.S. space shuttle Columbia
disaster in 2003. NASA officials have warned that unless exemptions are
made for NASA's work with Russia it was possible that no U.S. astronauts would
be flying on the next Soyuz mission in April.
Perminov said that lifting
of the ban "creates good preconditions for further development of space
cooperation and strengthening of ties between Russia's Federal Space Agency and
NASA.''
The U.S. shuttle program
was suspended for more than two years; the shuttle Discovery flew to the ISS in
July, but problems with its insulation raised doubts about when the next
shuttle would go into space.
When the current space
station's crew
of Russian Valery Tokarev and U.S. astronaut William McArthur blasted off in a
Russian rocket last month, Russian space officials warned that they could not
guarantee McArthur's return next spring unless NASA paid for the flight.
Russia is building an
US$800 million (euro684million) nuclear power plant in Iran despite U.S
objections that this could help Tehran build atomic bombs. Several Russian
companies have also been accused by the U.S. administration of leaking missile
technologies to Tehran.
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