JOINT STATEMENT BY INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION HEADS OF AGENCY

March 2, 2006

Dean Acosta/Melissa Mathews
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-1400/1272

RELEASE: 06-084

JOINT STATEMENT BY INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION HEADS OF AGENCY

The heads of space agencies from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the
United States met at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. on March 2, 2006, to
review International Space Station cooperation and endorse a revision
to the station configuration and assembly sequence.

At today's meeting, the Heads of Agency were also briefed on the
status of ongoing International Space Station operations and flight
hardware development activities across the partnership. The partners
reaffirmed their agencies' commitment to meet their mutual
obligations, to implement six person crew operations in 2009 and an
adequate number of shuttle flights to complete the assembly of the
space station by the end of the decade.

The partners also affirmed their plans to use a combination of
transportation systems provided by Europe, Japan, Russia, and the
United States to complete space station assembly in a timeframe that
meets the needs of the partners and to ensure full use of the unique
capabilities of the space station throughout its lifetime.

The International Space Station Heads of Agency expressed their
appreciation for the outstanding work being conducted by the space
station on-orbit crews and ground support personnel. They commended
them for their creativity in making full use of available resources
to operate the space station, prepare for assembly missions and
carrying out scientific research aboard the station.

The uninterrupted flow of Russian vehicles, the outstanding
performance of Canadarm2, the successful shuttle logistics flight,
and the resourcefulness of all of the partners' ground-based
engineers, researchers and operations personnel have served to
highlight the strength of the International Space Station partnership
and the importance of international cooperation in space operations.

The partners look forward to the upcoming space shuttle flight of the
STS-121 mission, a return to International Space Station assembly
activity and a permanent crew of three.

They also noted the upcoming launch of key space station elements such
as: three additional power trusses to support overall International
Space Station needs and the needs of the partners; the European Space
Agency Automated Transfer Vehicle; the U.S. Node 2; the European
Space Agency Columbus Module; the Canadian two-armed Special Purpose
Dexterous Manipulator Dextre; the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo;
the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module and the Japanese H-2
Transfer Vehicle.

These elements of the space station program will bring to fruition the
partnership's goal of operation and use of a permanently inhabited
civil International Space Station.

For information about NASA, the International Space Station, the Space
Shuttle, and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.nl