International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) is a joint project of 6 space agencies: the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Russian Federal Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA/ASC), Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and the European Space Agency (ESA, with members United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Austria and Finland choosing not to participate; Greece and Luxembourg joined ESA later http://www.esa.int/esaHS/partstates.html).

Purpose of the ISS

There are many critics of NASA who view the project as a waste of time and money, inhibiting progress on more useful projects: for instance, the estimated $100 billion USD lifetime cost could pay for dozens of unmanned scientific missions. There are many critics of space exploration in general, who argue that the $100 billion USD would be better spent on problems on Earth.

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Advocates of space exploration hold that such criticisms are at the very least short-sighted, and perhaps deceptive. Advocates of manned space research and exploration claim that these efforts have indeed produced billions of dollars of tangible benefits to people on Earth. In some estimates, it has been held that the indirect economic benefit, made from commercialization of technologies developed during manned space exploration, has returned more than seven times the initial investment to the economy (some conservative estimates put the amount at three times the initial investment). Whether the ISS, as distinct from the wider space program, will be a major contributor in this sense is, however, a subject of strong debate.

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More cynical advocates have pointed that, even if its scientific value is nil, it would have still served to force international cooperation at a time of tough international politics.

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The ISS has seen the first space tourist, Dennis Tito, who spent 20 million USD to fly aboard a Russian supply mission and the first space wedding when Yuri Malenchenko on the station married Ekaterina Dmitriev who was in Texas.

Related Topics:
Space tourist - Dennis Tito - Yuri Malenchenko

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