
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 3, 1993                   TAG: 9309030109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

U.S., RUSSIA JOIN TO BUILD SPACE STATION

The United States and Russia agreed Thursday to a joint venture that could place Russians and Americans side-by-side in a space station before the end of the decade.

"The combined space station will be significantly better than any of the options we could orbit on our own," said Vice President Al Gore at a signing ceremony that ended two days of meetings with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.

"It is time to leave behind the vestiges of the Cold War and reach for a new partnership between the United States and Russia," Gore said.

The agreement, formally ending decades of competition in space, includes payment for the cash-hungry Russians of $100 million in the next year and another $300 million by 1997.

Gore said Russian participation will help put the space station into orbit years earlier than originally planned and at far lower cost.

NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said, "The cross-pollination of ideas between our two spacefaring nations will be healthy and potentially profitable. Russian participation will have a significant impact on U.S. jobs."

Also participating in the international project are European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies.

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB