October 3, 2007

Russia and the United States space cooperation

Russia and the United States, the world's great space powers, celebrated the eve of the first satellite launch 50 years ago with a pact to use Russian technology on NASA missions to seek water on the moon and Mars. NASA administrator Michael Griffin signed the cooperation deal with his Russian counterpart at a ceremony at the U.S. embassy residence in Moscow attended by cosmonauts and astronauts and featuring a recorded greeting from space. Both sides avoided mention of superpower rivalry during the Cold War and recent clashes over U.S. "Star Wars"-style missile defense plans to concentrate on what they had achieved together, first in the Apollo-Soyuz joint mission of 1975 and later with the International Space Station.

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