Russia's Roscosmos, NASA to hold first in-person talks at heads level since 2018, Russia says

(Reuters) -The head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, has arrived in Houston for talks with the interim head of NASA, Sean Duffy - the first in-person meeting at the agencies' heads level since 2018, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday.

Talks between Bakanov, the head of Roscosmos since February, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Duffy, whom President Donald Trump named as NASA's interim head earlier this month, are scheduled for July 31, Russia's TASS state news agency reported.

"The parties plan to discuss ongoing joint projects," TASS reported, citing a Roscosmos statement.

The space program is one of the few international projects on which the United States and Russia still cooperate closely. Relations in other areas between the two countries have broken down since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"We plan to discuss the continuation of the cross-flight program, the extension of the International Space Station's operational life, and the work of the Russia-U.S. joint task force on the future safe deorbiting and controlled ocean disposal of the ISS," TASS cited Bakanov as saying in the Roscosmos statement.

Bakanov met with NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Ken Bowersox in April at the Russian-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, according to TASS.

But the last meeting between the heads of Roscosmos and NASA took place in October 2018, when Dmitry Rogozin, then director general of Roscosmos, met NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in person also at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, according to Russian media.

Bakanov, together with NASA officials, will visit divisions of the Johnson Space Center and Boeing's production facility for talks with the company's space program leadership, RIA agency reported.

On the eve of the launch of NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 flight, scheduled for July 31, Bakanov will meet with the crew of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which includes Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, RIA reported.

In the early days after Trump's return to office in January, Russia and the U.S. moved closer to restore relations, but the U.S. president has since grown impatient with Moscow, giving Russia on Monday 10-12 days to make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Chris Reese and Stephen Coates)