1069 



82 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL COOPERATION 



CONCLUSION 



Kenneth Pedersen, current NASA Director of International Affairs, 

 has commented that "international space cooperation is not a charitable 

 enterprise; countries cooperate because they judge it in their interest to 

 do so."^^ This observation can be extended to the level of individual 

 space scientists; in the 25 years since scientific experiments in outer 

 space became feasible, U.S. and European scientists have found it in- 

 creasingly in their individual and mutual self-interests to carry out much 

 of their activity on a cooperative basis. NASA's policies have encour- 

 aged and facilitated such cooperation; one result has been the nurturing 

 of a vigorous space science community in Europe as well as in the United 

 States. 



That community today recognizes the high stakes involved in main- 

 taining effective communication and cooperation across national 

 borders; this appears the only way for space science to thrive. The sim- 

 ple missions have already been flown, resources for space science are 

 scarce, and a coordinated approach to the planning, funding, and con- 

 duct of complex science missions makes eminent sense. New ways to 

 allow space scientists to join with the government organizations 

 through which they function in a collaborative enterprise of cosmic 

 discovery may be needed, but in general the outlook for international 

 space science in the coming decades is one of great promise and 

 excitement. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This paper, which was- commissioned by the National Research 

 Council's Office of International Affairs, appeared in the January 6, 

 1984 issue of Science. I wish to thank Jim Morrison, Lynne Cline, Lyn 

 Wigbels, and Richard Barnes of NASA and Wilfred Mellors of ESA 

 for their thoughtful comments on drafts of the paper. 



REFERENCES AND NOTES 



1. National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. As Amended, Sect. 102(b)(7). 



2. Newell, Homer. 1980. Beyond the Atmosphere: Early Years of Space Science. NASA 

 SP-4211. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, p. 299. 



3. Frutkin, Arnold. 1965. International Cooperation in Space. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.; 

 Prentice-Hall, p. 5. 



4. Ibid., p. 6. 



5. Ibid., p. 32. 



