RUSSIAN-AMERICAN COOPERATION IN SPACE PROGRAM PRESENTED IN VLADIVOSTOK

VLADIVOSTOK, May 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and the United States must do everything necessary to continue their partnership in space exploration, a NASA representative, Philip Cleary, said in Vladivostok (the Russian Far East) on Thursday at the presentation of the Russian-American Cooperation in Space Program on the 40th anniversary of the two countries' partnership in space exploration.

Mr. Cleary stated that there were no obstacles in the way of Russian-American cooperation in space exploration and that the 40-years of cooperation in this sphere, which has been important to the future of civilization on Earth, has strikingly shown that Russia and the U.S. can work together.

According to Mr. Cleary, the International Space Station (ISS) program is currently the basis of Russian-American cooperation in space. The implementation of this program will continue, he noted.

Mr. Cleary said that experts from two countries were implementing the ISS program in order to maintain crews in orbit and that Russia was great help in this.

Materials on the ISS, slides on the life in orbit, and photographs taken by the Hubble space telescope were shown during the presentation of the Russian-American Cooperation in Space program.

Mr. Clearly highlighted Russia's achievements such as the first manned space flight, the longest-duration space flight and the record for the man's longest time in space, as well as the Mir, the most durable space station which operated in space for 15 years.