NASA is sorely disappointed with its European partners. The European Space Agency (ESA) appears to be dragging its feet over its proposed contribution to the setting up of an international space station. A meeting of the ESA council, in late March in Paris, was expected to thrash out differences and forge a formal cost agreement. The matter bombed because the member states endorsed European participation but declined to make any commitments on funding. "It was a cup half-full for some things but half-empty for others," said Jorg Feusiel Buechl, ESA director of manned flight. The debate will resume only in October at a ministerial -level conference.
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