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By Trend

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said he had rescinded an invitation to Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos, to visit the United States because he wanted to accommodate the interests of senators, Trend reports with the reference to Sputnik.

"We had heard from numerous senators suggesting that this was not a good idea. And I wanted to be accommodating to the interests of the senators, and so I have rescinded the invitation", Bridenstine said in a phone interview with The Washington Post.

NASA's press secretary told Sputnik late on 4 January that the planned visit of Rogozin to the United States, initially scheduled for February, would be postponed and a new date would be set later. Earlier the same day, a space industry source told Sputnik that the visit could be cancelled.

The statement comes after US Senator Jeanne Shaheen urged NASA on 2 January to withdraw the invitation to Rogozin because he had been sanctioned by the US government over the Ukraine crisis.

Bridenstine previously said that NASA was working on obtaining a sanctions waiver for Rogozin, who has been subject to US restrictions since 2014.

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