MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has invited Russia to carry out a joint manned flight to Mars, the head of NASA's Moscow office said on Tuesday.

Russia is currently planning to send its own expedition to Mars some time in the future.

Marc Bowman told an international aviation and space conference in Moscow that the Mars mission should take advantage of the achievements made by the International Space Station and use a multinational crew.

He said the flight should be under the control of NASA and the Russian space agency but with the participation of international space agencies.

However, he said that before a joint flight to Mars could be made, it was necessary to complete the ISS mission and fly to the Moon to collect essential scientific and technical information.