Europeans Clash Over Space Station

摘要

The ministers who oversee the European Space Agency meet next week in Toulouse, France, to strike a bargain on their participation in the space station program. So far, an agreement has proved elusive. More than a decade has gone by, many millions ofdollars have been spent, and thousands of scientists and engineers have labored on the project. But not a single piece of European hardware has yet been built for the international space station. Nor does the European Space Agency (ESA) even have approval from its 14 member states to do so, as they have not been able to decide what should be built or how to divide up the bill. Now, with just 2 years to go before the first element of the space station is launched into orbit, there's no more time for delay. "If there is no decision, we will have a big difficulty in delivering hardware on time," says Jorg Feustel-Buechl, director of ESA's human space program.