retro News: U.S. AND RUSSIANS JOIN IN NEW PLAN FOR SPACE STATION

From the New York Times
September 3, 1993
U.S. AND RUSSIANS JOIN IN NEW PLAN FOR SPACE STATION
Formally ending decades of cold war rivalry in space, the United States and Russia agreed today to merge the hearts of their manned space programs, embarking on a joint effort to design and construct an international space station.

In a separate agreement signed today by Vice President Al Gore and Prime Minister Victor S. Chernomyrdin, Russia also agreed to place export controls on missile technology, a step the Administration had set as a condition to cooperation in space.

Russia also gained access to the lucrative international market for launching commercial satellites.

And Texaco is to get $28 million in loan guarantees from Washington to help restore production from 150 dormant oil wells in Siberia. [ Page D1. ] Some Hurdles Foreseen

The plan announced today marks a dramatic reshaping of the nine-year, $9 billion United States effort to build a space station. The joint station is expected to cost less and reach orbit faster than the current design. But it could face domestic and foreign hurdles, and experts have raised questions about the Russians' ability to fulfill their part of the deal.

Today's agreements were widely seen as a watershed in the history of the United States space program, which was born a third of a century ago amid fierce East-West rivalries after the Russians launched Sputnik 1 in 1957.

"We started a new era today," NASA's administrator, Daniel S. Goldin, said in an interview. "We closed the books on the cold war. This event is symbolic and very meaningful. It's going to catalyze lots of action between our two countries."

Details of the plan are to be worked out in a two-month study by NASA officials and their Russian counterparts. But the broad outline calls for first sending American astronauts to use the existing Russian space station, Mir, then combining Russian and American components in a joint station in 1997.

The United States will pay Russia $400 million over the next four years for the use of Mir and other services. Missile Sales a Threat

The potential deal was nearly scuttled by a year-long dispute between Washington and Moscow over the proposed sale of Russian rocket technology to India. The United States said the sale violated the Missile Technology Control Regime and said cooperative efforts in space would be halted unless Russia canceled the deal, which Moscow did in July.