Israel and Russia sign Space agreement

Israel and Russia have signed an agreement to enhance cooperation between the countries’ space agencies in the fields of space research, observation, navigation, medicine and biology in space, research in advanced materials and launchings. While Israel’s only astronaut Ilan Ramon was killed in the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle flight in 2003, the Israel Space Agency has sought to expand its cooperation beyond NASA and the new agreement reflects closer ties with the Russian Federal Space Agency. The agreement was one of the topics discussed during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting in Moscow last week with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.