NASA hopes for partnership with European space agency
The Morning Journal — A partnership between NASA and the European Space Agency could bring new investment to NASA Plum Brook Station, area officials said.
The possible pairing of the American space agency and its European counterpart has been in the talking stages since last summer and this week it drew support from Sen. Sherrod Brown and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who each endorsed the deal in letters to NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr.
NASA could join with the European Space Agency to test the ESA’s new upper stage engine for its Ariane V rocket at NASA Plum Brook Station. That rocket is the European fleet’s workhorse, launching six to seven times a year to carry commercial satellites into space, according to www.esa.int.
“The goal is to be able to have the European Space Agency and NASA sign an agreement in May that says, this is where we want to test,” said Plum Brook Management Office Director David L. Stringer, a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general.
