NASA Continues to Discuss Co-op on Lunar Orbital Platform with Other Countries

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is continuing to discuss working with other partner countries on the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway program, the US space agency told Sputnik.

"NASA is still gathering information for Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway development," a NASA communications official told Sputnik on Monday. "This includes continuing to discuss potential International Space Station partner contributions to the gateway."

Earlier, a space industry source told Sputnik that the United States had offered to use US-made space suits instead of Russian-made Orlan suits for conducting spacewalks outside the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway.

In 2017, Russia and the United States signed an agreement to build a gateway to future deep space missions in lunar orbit. The segment that Russia intends to build will serve as an exit for astronauts going on spacewalks.

However, according to the source, foreign partners explained such requests by the fact that Russia was not producing space suits designated for the Moon, noting that keeping two different sets of space suits would be irrational.

Along with it, the partners also insist that Russia should construct its airlock module in line with US standards and, hence, adjust it to US-made space suits which are designed for lunar orbit missions, the source added.