Sreedhara Panicker Somanath: Indian Space Research Organization Overview
Throughout most of NASA’s history, international collaboration has played an important role in both its science and human spaceflight programs. This collaboration has become the new norm in space, as more than sixty international space agencies increasingly work together in a broad range of space-related activities. Nearly two-thirds of NASA’s space science missions now involve international collaboration on many levels, while human spaceflight—with its current focus on International Space Station and future exploration missions—is now fully international in scope. The Space Shuttle program helped facilitate this evolution with the involvement of a number of international flight projects, with the participation of astronauts from many nations that flew on its missions, and with the use of our international partners’ unique capabilities, such as the Space Shuttle’s Canadian robotic arm and the German Space Agency’s (DLR) Space Lab. The International Space Station has, from its very beginning, been a truly international endeavor, involving the work of eighteen space-faring nations that participated in its development. In this regard, the station is a model for future human exploration missions, which undoubtedly will be dependent upon global international collaboration. Our international panelists will examine the lessons learned from these collaborations and anticipate how we might benefit from these lessons, from their unique international perspectives, in our evolving partnerships.
Recorded at Masters Forum 20.
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