ABSTRACT
In 2011, the final segment of the International Space Station (ISS) was joined to existing components orbiting the Earth. ISS thus accomplished “assembly complete.” What is most significant about ISS may be that five space agencies, involving 16 nations, made it happen. Holding a coalition together that long despite innumerable tensions within the group and pressures from outside was daunting. The most important relationship was that between the US and Russia. Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union gave birth to the project and conflict and cooperation were always present. This chapter tracks the policy history of the space station and discusses the following factors as among those critical for reaching a long-term, large-scale goal and building an effective coalition involving independent, even sovereign parties: administrative leadership; technical and financial necessity; political will; compartmentalization; shared values; and trust. Leadership is the most essential factor since it embraces all the others and must be exerted over many years, in ISS’s case, three decades.
