Space station - The world connection

NASA has expressed an interest in acquiring foreign partners for its upcoming permanent, manned space station program who will participate as builders, operators and users, and will invest a significant portion of the financial and developmental research resources entailed by this ambitious undertaking. Cooperation, then, will not come to an end upon delivery of the hardware developed by a foreign partner, but will continue on the basis of ownership of the hardware and responsibility for its engineering and operational management. Attention is presently given to the prospective contributions of Canada, the European Space Agency, and Japan.