Space exploration is a multi-faceted endeavor and a "grand challenge" of the 21st century like climate change and human security. It is an emblematic domain of space activities where traditionally only established space powers have been active. However, today space exploration has become an element of the political agenda of a growing number of countries around the world, leading to an internationalization of space exploration. Consequently, the space exploration environment is dramatically evolving. rnThe history of space exploration can be structured in three phases, each having distinct features and characteris- rntics. The first phase of space exploration, Space Exploration 1.0, took place during the Cold War from the late 1950s to the late 1980s. For more than three decades, space was viewed as one of the areas for peaceful Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. During this era space exploration mainly consisted of international science missions with cooperation in the form of in-kind contribution and ad-hoc coordination mechanisms.
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