MOSCOW, Aug. 19 -- Political tension around Russia and Ukraine would not affect the national space programs, a senior space official said Tuesday.

According to the mission control official of the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) Vladimir Solovyov, the equipment for the Russian spacecraft currently produced in Ukraine could be replaced by local enterprises, particularly the Kurs docking system.

"It could easily be made in (the capital of Russia's Udmurt republic) Izhevsk. The modernized Kurs-NA docking system will be completely Russia-made," Interfax news agency quoted the official as saying.

Neither will Russian participation in the ISS missions be harmed by the western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, he said. "(The sanctions) absolutely haven't affected the Russia-U.S. space cooperation."

ISS is an international project with all its participants closely tied to each other, he said, stressing that the station's work is impossible without Russian Soyuz-TMA transportation spaceships.

In May, the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, said Russia has been developing a national program of manned space explorations which will replace the ISS program after 2020.