The Space Station Cooperative Framework

A. Farand

International cooperation on Space Station started as a result of an invitation to friends and allies of the United States, formulated in January 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, to participate in the development and use of a permanently manned Space Station. This cooperation was formalised by the signing of a first series of international agreements on 29 September 1988. The cooperative framework established by those agreements required major restructuring because of a significant redesign of the US Space Station programme ordered by President Bill Clinton on his arrival at the White House at the beginning of 1993, and the subsequent invitation made to Russia by the original Partners to become a major player in the project.