8th July 2010, 11:40 AM
I think this might be the first step in establishing working relationships with countries in the middle east in regards to the space program.
NASA already has a good working relationship with space agencies in Canada, most of western Europe and even Russia. They draw on various areas of expertise that these countries possess as well as innovations made in their scientific communities to put together the best possible space program that they can. Like it or not countries like Iran obviously have people who are experts in area such as constructing rockets to carry missiles with knowledge that can easily be applied to getting into space. If the US made it clear that they don't have a problem with the religion that these scientists likely follow - but with the policies of their governments, it would make these scientists much more amenable to potentially working with the US in the future. That's why I think US-Russian cooperation in terms of working in space has been successful - because it was clear to the Russians that now work with US scientists that the US did not have a problem with them being Russian, they had a problem with the political and economic system that existed in their country.
Think of it this way - 20 years ago would you have imagined that Russia and the United States would be working together to build a space station? I don't think it's completely far-fetched to think that in 20 or maybe 50 years other countries like Pakistan or even Iran could be involved in multi-national space projects too.
NASA already has a good working relationship with space agencies in Canada, most of western Europe and even Russia. They draw on various areas of expertise that these countries possess as well as innovations made in their scientific communities to put together the best possible space program that they can. Like it or not countries like Iran obviously have people who are experts in area such as constructing rockets to carry missiles with knowledge that can easily be applied to getting into space. If the US made it clear that they don't have a problem with the religion that these scientists likely follow - but with the policies of their governments, it would make these scientists much more amenable to potentially working with the US in the future. That's why I think US-Russian cooperation in terms of working in space has been successful - because it was clear to the Russians that now work with US scientists that the US did not have a problem with them being Russian, they had a problem with the political and economic system that existed in their country.
Think of it this way - 20 years ago would you have imagined that Russia and the United States would be working together to build a space station? I don't think it's completely far-fetched to think that in 20 or maybe 50 years other countries like Pakistan or even Iran could be involved in multi-national space projects too.