NASA, JAXA Talk Possible Future Cooperative Efforts

NASA JAXA Charles Bolden Naoki Okumura photo credit NASA
Photo Credit: NASA

On Wednesday, July 10, Naoki Okumura, president of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), met with NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden in Washington, D.C. to discuss the future cooperation between space agencies, including support for the International Space Station.

Bolden and Okumura also discussed NASA’s new asteroid initiative and the potential contribution JAXA has based on their Hayabusa asteroid sample return mission.

“NASA has enjoyed a long-standing, mutually beneficial relationship with Japan in space exploration activities and we look forward to further discussions about our asteroid initiative,” said Bolden. “We currently have more than 35 active agreements with JAXA in human spaceflight, Earth science, space science, and aeronautics, making Japan one of the agency’s leading partners in civil space cooperation.”

According to President Obama’s 2014 budget proposal, NASA’ s asteroid initiative involves capturing a small near-Earth asteroid and directing it near lunar orbit where astronauts can explore it.

 

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One Comment

  1. I’d like to see JAXA ‘step up to the plate’ a bit more aggressively and build a human rated HTV or similar with re-enrty cap.

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