The International Space Station – an international cooperation

It all began on 25 January 1984 when Ronald Reagan, then President of the United States, invited other nations to participate in building a “permanently manned” space station. Europe, Canada and Japan responded to this invitation with great enthusiasm, and they began to collaborate in the definition of the project.

	“We want our friends to help us to face this endeavor, sharing the benefits, (…) NASA will invite other nations to participate, so we can strengthen peace, secure prosperity and extend freedom to all of those who share our objectives.” (Ronald Reagan, 25 January 1984).

Reagan’s station was initially named “Freedom”, because it was started as a symbol of the unity of the western world. But the political climate changed, and in 1993 – after the end of the Cold War – Russia agreed to join the other participating countries in the project that has become the world’s largest peaceful cooperative programme in science or technology to date.