Columbia Disaster

Institute Hosts Roundtable Discussion on US-Russian Cooperation After Columbia

WASHINGTON, DC, February 7, 2003-- As part of the Eisenhower Institute's ongoing effort to address issuesdealing with international cooperation in space, the Institute hosted a roundtable discussion on "US-Russian Cooperation After Columbia." A select group of participants from the science, industry, and policy communities gathered together at the Eisenhower Institute's offices to discuss how the US and Russia might find creative ways to work together in the wake of the space shuttle Columbia accident.

Participants included Ambassador Yuri V. Ushakov of the Russian Federation to the United States, Academician Roald Sagdeev of the University of Maryland East-West Space Science Center, and Susan Eisenhower of The Eisenhower Institute, and they discussed the impact of the tragedy on current and future cooperative space activities, most notably the ISS. Other topics included the benefits of manned versus unmanned space exploration, as well as non-proliferation issues and their relationship to the US-Russian space partnership.