Russian, US Cosmonauts in NASA Crew-6 cooperating amid Ukraine led US sanctions on Russia

The Roscosmos cosmonaut and a mission specialist of Crew-6 Andrey Fedyaev said, "NASA's Crew-6 is one team, in which the Russian and American cosmonauts have no disagreements," reported Sputnik. Russian space agency Roscosmos has maintained contact with SpaceX through NASA and would support any international cooperation that can help countries achieve common goals, said Fedyaev. 

"When we work - we are one crew, so there can be no disagreements and, you know, I really like the fact that we all feel it, we all know and understand it. We in the crew have absolutely no disagreements in principle on any occasion," said Fedyaev, reported Sputnik. 

After Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, Fedyaev would be the second Russian cosmonaut to board the US Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the International Space Station (ISS) integrated flights agreement. The team includes NASA astronaut and spacecraft commander Stephen Bowen, Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist Andrey Fedyaev, and UAE astronaut and mission specialist Sultan Alneyadi.

The two space organisation of the US and Russia, NASA and Roscosmos, have celebrated a long partnership of over two decades. However, the testing time was just after the Russian aggression in Ukraine after which the US has been imposing multiple sanctions against Russia. These sanctions have been criticised by the former Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin who said that this could potentially block cooperation between the United States and Russia on the International Space Station (ISS), reported CNN.

“If you block cooperation with us, who will save the International Space Station (ISS) from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or…Europe?” Rogozin said. “There is also the possibility of a 500-ton structure falling on India and China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS does not fly over Russia, therefore all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?”, said Rogozin in February 2022, reported CNN

Russian, US Cosmonauts in NASA

"We interact with SpaceX through NASA, but in any case, I think relations of any kind between different countries should always be strengthened to come together to some common goal that they set for themselves," when Russia's Fedyaev was asked if he would like to see deeper cooperation between Roscosmos and SpaceX.  Further, he added that they don't have such direct interaction with SpaceX. He also called Elon Musk's idea of living on Mars "wild" but also asserted that this could be groundbreaking for humankind. 

“The idea of colonizing Mars, this idea seems kind of crazy. But in general, the history of mankind knows many examples of what initially seemed like a crazy idea, and then it became a completely common activity,” said Fedyaev.