Saudi delegation visits Russia’s cosmonaut training center

A high-ranking delegation from Saudi Arabia visited the Russian Cosmonaut Training Center on Friday during its stay in the Russian capital, the center’s press service said.

"The guests were shown special training equipment, including simulated Soyuz-MS spacecraft, the Russian segment of the International Space Station, the TsF-18 centrifuge. Besides, members of the delegation examined reconfigurable equipment to simulate various planes and helicopters," the press service said in a statement.

The document quoted a delegation member as saying that "cooperation with Russia is important for us."

"This is our first meeting, but we hope that our cooperation will be expanded," he said.

The delegation led by Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is also the board chairman of the Saudi Space Committee, met with the head of the Russian space corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, in Moscow on Wednesday. During the meeting, "the Saudi partners demonstrated interest in enhancing cooperation between the two states in a number of areas, including manned space missions, satellite navigation systems (and related technologies and services), the remote sensing of the Earth and joint projects to build space equipment and ground-based launch infrastructure," Roscosmos said.

The delegation also visited the Russian Mission Control Center and the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia.