Russia, Israel sign space agreement

MOSCOW, March 27 (UPI) -- Russia's space agency Roscosmos said Sunday it had signed a mutual cooperation pact with its counterparts in Israel.

The agreement on exploration and other uses of space involves the use of the nations' respective technology for peaceful purposes, Roscosmos said in its announcement.

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said cooperation between Roscosmos and Israel currently revolved around Israeli satellites carried into orbit aboard Russian rockets. The cooperation agreement will expand contacts between Russian and Israeli space-technology companies.

"Russia is currently making a telecommunications satellite, Amos-5, in the interests of the Israeli customer," Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov said in the announcement.