Foreign space agency chiefs told President Bush's Commission for the Implementation of US Space Policy last week that they wanted the US space vision to include their national programmes.
At the commission's fifth and final hearing held in New York the heads of the Canadian and Japanese space agencies said they were looking for opportunities in which their own activities could supplant possible NASA missions to the Moon and eventually Mars.
"Any concerted international space exploration programme should take into account individual national programmes, which may have complementary plans for space exploration," Canadian space agency president Marc Garneau said.
His view was supported by Kiyoshi Higuchi, executive director of the Japanese space exploration agency, JAXA. He said JAXA has a robotic lunar exploration programme, as did the US space vision proposals. The European Space Agency and Arianespace, the European launcher firm, also urged the USA to make its new plan an international one.
ROB COPPINGER / LONDON
Source: Flight International
