On Jan. 23, 2018, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) hosted an International Space Station Multilateral Coordination Board meeting. The board is the senior international coordinating body for the International Space Station Program and meets regularly to discuss important issues related to space station operations and use. At this meeting, representatives from Canada, Europe, Russia, Japan, and the United States discussed the dynamic operations of the orbiting laboratory, including critical research and technology demonstrations to support future space exploration. Board representatives also discussed ways to continue to leverage the space station to benefit humanity, enable a commercial low-Earth orbit economy allowing for reduced cost for government activities in low-Earth orbit, and use the station to advance the goal of expanding human presence into the solar system.
Pictured left to right: Mami Oyama, deputy director general, Research and Development Bureau, MEXT; Gilles Leclerc, director general, Space Exploration, Canadian Space Agency; David Parker, director of Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration, ESA (European Space Agency); William Gerstenmaier, associate administration, NASA’s Human Exploration and Operation Mission Directorate; and Sergey Krikalev, executive director for Human Spaceflight Programs, State Space Corporation Roscosmos. Photo credit: MEXT