MOSCOW (AP) — Russian and U.S. space officials have hailed joint work in space, saying that their cooperation has remained strong despite political tensions.

Roscosmos director Dmitry Rogozin said Monday that "we absolutely trust each other and political winds haven't touched us."

Russia-U.S. ties have been strained over Ukraine, Syria and the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections.

Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's human explorations and operations, spoke in kind, saying that space "has driven us together," adding that "as a partnership I can say we work together extremely well."

Rogozin and Gerstenmaier attended a conference in Moscow marking the 20th anniversary of the International Space Station. They said their agencies also plan to cooperate in the future in developing a moon orbiting outpost.