Europe's ISS program involvement

摘要

ESA's reason for participation in the ISS is threefold: (1) Political: to take part in a global cooperation for peaceful purposes, to reinforce Europe's political and industrial cohesion, to maintain Europe's role as a major reliable partner in worldwide advanced technological enterprises. (2) Technical: to develop capability in the domain of Human Space Flight, to master the operations of complex, crewed outposts, to develop the key technologies for long-term exploration, to develop an Astronaut corps. (3) Utilization: to conduct scientific research, to perform technology demonstrations on orbit, to conduct educational programs, to prepare for exploration and to create commercial exploitation.