Planetary Society Congratulates World Space Agencies on International Mission

The Planetary Society congratulates both the astronaut crews and all the space agencies of the world involved with the successful mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station over the past two weeks. In addition to attaching the first element of the Japanese module and a new Canadian robot arm, the crews carried out several other missions involving Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada and the U.S.

"What is going on up there is fantastic, and the space agencies should be ballyhooing more both the engineering achievements as well as the international cooperation involved," said Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society.

The International Space Station is truly living up to its name. Two separate spacecraft -- the U.S. Shuttle Endeavour and the Russian Progress resupply craft -- were docked together at the station during this mission. On April 3, the European Space Agency’s Jules Verne cargo ship will arrive at the space station. A week later a different Russian Soyuz craft will arrive on April 10 for a crew swap.

"This international cooperation on a daring and complex job of construction in Earth orbit bodes well for our eventual goal of sending humans to Mars as a global venture," noted Friedman.