NASA, the International Space Station & U.S.-Russia Space Relations
About The Event
Despite significant tensions between Washington and Moscow regarding election interference, the annexation of Crimea, the war in Syria and other matters, for years space relations between the U.S. and Russia have been a high point of scientific and political cooperation. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. supported Russia’s space program during difficult times and benefitted from Russian space technology, reduced costs and the assurance that former Soviet engineers were employed by Russia and the West, as opposed to other governments.
The International Space Station is the pinnacle of space collaboration between Russia, the U.S. their Western partners. Commander Timothy Kopra is a former commander of the International Space Station and spent a total of eight months in space and completed three space walks. In his almost two decades as an astronaut, he worked directly with Roscosmos (the Russian Space Agency) and numerous Russian cosmonauts both in space and on the ground with NASA.
Commander Kopra will discuss the current state of and outlook for Russia-U.S. space relations, especially in light of two recent concerning incidents and the U.S.’s recent declaration to stop supporting the Space Station in 6 years. He will also address the increasing role of private commercial space ventures and NASA’s proposed plan for ‘Gateway’ – a moon-orbiting space station largely designed to test new technologies for a potential trip to Mars.
About The Speaker
Timothy “Tim” Lennart Kopra was born in Austin, Texas, on April 9, 1963. Kopra was in the U.S. Army for 25 years as an Army aviator and retired in 2010. He was deployed to Operations Desert Shield and Storm and then served as a commander and operations officer of the AH-64 Attack Helicopter Company, in addition to attending U.S. Naval Test Pilot School among other duties. Selected as an astronaut in 2000, the Austin native is also a veteran of the space flight Expedition 20 (July 15 through September 22, 2009). After 20 years, he logged a total of 244 days in space on two spaceflights, and 13 hours and 31 minutes on three spacewalks. Over the course of his career, Kopra has served as a U.S. Army officer and aviator, experimental test pilot, astronaut, and now a partner of Blue Bear Capital and oversees the operational performance of portfolio companies. He lives in Houston, TX with his wife and two children.
He graduated from the United States Military Academy West Point, New York in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science, Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995 with a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering, U.S. Army War College in 2006 with a Master of Strategic Studies, and Columbia University and London Business School in 2013 with a Masters of Business Administration.