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.