Introduction

On October 4, 1957 the space age was born with the launch of the first artificial satellite from Russia. Since this historic launch of Sputnik 1 nearly forty years ago, both the UnitedStates and Russia have made the exploration of space a national priorit y. Until recently, perhaps the most persuasive reason for exploring space for both of our countries was if "we" didn't do it "they" would. Simply put, we were each other's justification.

With the end of the Cold War and the recent world-wide economic downturn, both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Space Agency (RKA) have had to find new ways of justifying and paying for space exploration. It is bec oming increasingly clear that the answer lies in cooperative space ventures between the United States and Russia. It is hoped that this serverwill help facilitate this cooperation.

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