Res Communis

The Future of Space Exploration and International Cooperation

by P.J. Blount and the blog faculty

From Space.com:

Future Space Exploration Hinges on International Cooperation, Astronauts Say
By Clara Moskowitz
Senior Writer
posted: 29 April 2010
07:52 am ET

The final frontier must become more of an international endeavor or space exploration could stagnate, according to three veteran astronauts from two different countries.

Only through further collaboration between nations can humanity reach its next major space goals, the spaceflying group — which included a former NASA astronaut, an American space tourist and the first Chinese man to fly into space — said at the 26th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., this month.

“I think the development of space endeavors is not for one nation or one country,” said Yang Liwei, China’s first astronaut. “I myself as an astronaut, I believe that the multinational, the international cooperation is the future triumph of the development of space industry,” he said through a translator. . . . [Full Story]