The leaders of the five space agencies that are
\nInternational Partners in the International Space Station met
\nFriday in Tokyo and concluded work on the 2002 Program Action
\nPlan.
\n
\n“This is a significant step forward in our objective to
\ndevelop a unique science and research laboratory for
\nbreakthrough opportunities never before achieved. As we
\ntransition from the engineering and construction phase of the
\nInternational Space Station to that of a prominent science
\nplatform, the process the Partnership agreed to today will
\nhelp move us to that objective over the next 12 to 18
\nmonths,” said NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe. “This is
\ntruly a testimonial to the achievements that can be
\naccomplished through international cooperation,” he added.<\/p>\n
\nThe Program Action Plan was adopted by the Partnership at the
\nHeads of Agency meeting held in Paris in June 2002. The
\nProgram Action Plan provided the framework for the
\nPartnership’s efforts, over the past six months, to develop
\nan option path to meet Station use and resource requirements
\nand to develop a proposed process for selecting a
\nconfiguration option beyond the accommodation of remaining
\nInternational Partner elements. <\/p>\n
\nIn a lengthy and complex series of discussions and
\nevaluations, the Partnership successfully implemented every
\nitem of the Program Action Plan on schedule. As a result, the
\nStation Heads of Agency unanimously agreed to endorse an
\noption path that enables maximum Space Station usage during
\nthe 2006-2007 timeframe. The plan calls for greater use of
\nStation research elements, and the Partners also agreed on a
\nprocess for selecting a Space Station configuration beyond
\nthe accommodation of the remaining International Partner
\nelements. This process includes further technical and
\nprogrammatic assessment, cost estimation, and internal
\nbudgetary reviews by each partner. <\/p>\n
\nIn accordance with the newly agreed “ISS Program Action Plan
\nfor Selection of An ISS Configuration,” the Heads of Agency
\nwill reconvene in summer 2003 in Moscow to select a revised
\nStation configuration option. They will meet next winter in
\nWashington to agree on a Station configuration.<\/p>\n
\nNASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe chaired Friday’s meeting with
\nDr. Marc Garneau, President of the Canadian Space Agency;
\nAntonio Rodota, Director General of the European Space
\nAgency; Yuri Nikolayevich Koptev, General Director of the
\nRussian Aviation and Space Agency; and Shuichiro Yamanouchi,
\nPresident of the National Space Development Agency of Japan.
\nYamanouchi served as the host of this Heads of Agency
\nMeeting.<\/p>\n
\nISS Heads of Agency Joint Statement<\/p>\n
\nSpace agency leaders from the United States, Europe, Canada,
\nJapan and Russia met in Tokyo, Japan, December 6, 2002, to
\nreview and further promote International Space Station (ISS)
\ncooperation. The meeting participants reviewed in detail the
\nsignificant progress that has been made in the development
\nand deployment of the ISS elements and in the implementation
\nof the ISS Program Action Plan adopted at the last Heads of
\nAgency meeting in June 2002. This Plan provided the framework
\nfor the Partnership’s efforts over the last six months to
\nselect an option path to meet the utilization and resource
\nrequirements of the ISS. <\/p>\n
\nAt this meeting, the participants unanimously endorsed an
\noption path that enables maximized ISS utilization in the
\n2006\/2007 timeframe through greater use of ISS research
\nelements. The implementation of an expanded scientific
\nprogram on ISS would be supported by phased growth of ISS
\ncapabilities, significantly increased quantity of permanent
\ncrew, with crew rescue initially provided by additional Soyuz
\ncrew rescue vehicles and eventually by both Soyuz and Orbital
\nSpace Plane. Additional Space Shuttle, and other vehicle
\nsupport would also enhance this unique on-orbit research
\nfacility. The participants also agreed upon a process for
\nselecting an ISS configuration beyond the accommodation of
\nthe remaining International Partner elements. This process
\nincludes further technical and programmatic assessment, cost
\nestimation, and internal budgetary reviews by each partner.
\nIt will lead to approval of a configuration option
\nrecommendation in March 2003, the selection of a revised ISS
\nconfiguration option by June\/July 2003, and agreement on a
\nconfiguration by December 2003.<\/p>\n
\nThe Partners noted with great enthusiasm the continuing
\nsuccess of ISS assembly activities and confirmed that
\ndevelopment of the remaining ISS elements is proceeding as
\nplanned. They look forward to successful accommodation of key
\nISS partner elements by February 2004 that allows the
\naccommodation of remaining partner ISS utilization and
\ninfrastructure elements. This will enable improved scientific
\nand technological capabilities in the 2006\/2007 timeframe.<\/p>\n
\nThey also highlighted the third year of permanent human
\npresence and research on board the ISS and the recent
\nsuccessful launch of the ISS Expedition Six crew. This crew
\nwill concentrate on assembly tasks and the conduct of
\nessential scientific research on behalf of all of the ISS
\nPartners to improve life on Earth while exploring the
\nfrontier of space. The Partners look forward to increasing
\ntangible benefits of this unprecedented international
\ncooperation as the Partnership proceeds with assembly, and
\nincreased utilization of, this world-class research facility. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The leaders of the five space agencies that are International Partners in the International Space Station met Friday in Tokyo and concluded work on the 2002 Program Action Plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":612598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-NASA"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/612598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}