Platform Will Be Used Peacefully, U.S. Promises Its Partners in Space
The United States put negotiations with its foreign partners on the planned space station back on track Thursday by assuring them that the orbiting platform will be used for peaceful purposes only, a source close to the talks said.
As a result, negotiations will resume as early as later this month in Paris with the European Space Agency, and in March with Canada and Japan, the source said.
The three partners had become concerned when the Pentagon said in December that it wanted to preserve its options for conducting research on the platform.
‘For Peaceful Purposes’
The official State Department announcement was that the partners “confirmed that the space station will be developed and used for peaceful purposes.”
The source said that while the Pentagon has not said what kind of research it wants to do “the United States position is that these options need to be preserved on use of U.S. elements on the station.”
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