Cold War Rivals, Space Partners

The ISS exists because the Cold War ended. NASA had a station design but not enough money. Russia had decades of station experience from Mir and Salyut, but a collapsing economy. Each side had exactly what the other lacked.

• 15 nations take part, working through five space agencies — the US, Russia, Japan, Canada, and ESA member states
• Russian modules provide propulsion and core life support
• American modules focus on research and power

The partnership has outlasted wars, sanctions, and bitter diplomatic freezes. Even at the lowest points in US-Russia relations, astronauts and cosmonauts kept eating, sleeping, and working side by side, 400 km above the politics on the ground.