Astronauts aboard space station deny row

Russian and American astronauts are downplaying suggestions of disputes over food and equipment on the international space station.

U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke, Russian Yuri Lonchakov and American space tourist Charles Simonyi spoke to reporters two days after returning to Earth.

A veteran Russian astronaut said in a newspaper interview last month that squabbles on Earth over access to food, water, toilets and other facilities on the station have hurt crews' morale and hampered cooperation between the Russians and Americans.

Fincke said today that if there were disputes, they were only on the ground, not in space. He called the 10-year use of the space station by Russian and American astronauts "the best partnership that human beings have ever had."