MOSCOW - Hundreds of kilometres below on Earth, their governments are locked in a standoff over Ukraine -- but up in space, Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts are still working together side by side.

The International Space Station (ISS) is one of the rare areas of US-Russian co-operation that has not been hit by the Ukraine crisis and in the latest show of commitment, the next joint mission is set to blast off from Kazakhstan on Friday.

The crew will include two space veterans -- American Scott Kelly and Russian Mikhail Kornienko -- who are down to become the first people to spend a whole year straight on the cosmic outpost, rather than the usual six months.

"We do our work that we love and we respect each other," Russian cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev said of life aboard the ISS after returning to Earth this month.

"Whatever the politicians want to get up to, that is their business," he told journalists at a press conference just after landing.

First launched as an international project back in 1998, the station was heralded as a symbol of the co-operation that emerged from the Cold War rivalry of the space race between the Soviet Union and United states.

And while the research outpost may technically be divided into Russian and American sections the truth, analysts say, is that neither country can run it on their own.

"The US and Russia need each other," American expert John Logsdon, a member of NASA's Advisory Council, told AFP.

'Like a marriage'

"It is like a marriage where divorce is almost impossible."

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Feud on Earth but peace in space for US and Russia