Kalistan

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Spencer welcomes world back to Space Exploration
ISCA says they look for opportunities to cooperate
Spencer, Duchy of Suldanor
February 12, 5726


ISCA Director Nancy West, at the Imperial Space and Rocketry Museum in Spencer

The Imperial Space and Communications Agency (ISCA) applauded both the recent efforts to restart space program in Nadiya and the founding of the Dovani Space Agency. ISCA director Nancy West said "These developments are very encouraging for the future of both manned spaceflight and greater efforts to explore more of space and the universe around Terra. We probably know a fraction of what would should know by now, and with more nations working on it, human knowledge can benefit."

Asked if Kalistan, which has maintained an active space program for more than 150 years, has any plans to launch manned missions into space, West answered, "Sadly for science and for Kalistan's prestige, I don't think manned missions from here in Spencer are much of a priority. They are quite expensive, and they are still so dangerous. We did manned missions centuries ago, and there's not a lot of new technology which is available to be discovered in space which we don't already have access to from the now ancient space missions, and humans been everywhere that can be reasonably achieved already. Until we get access to stuff which is currently labeled as 'science fiction,' such as faster than light tech, missions to the outer planets are sadly still one way trips. So Kalistan has no intention of creating rockets with the goal of conducting manned space flight."

This is not to say that Kalistan wouldn't cooperate with others. "We don't really have the training facilities here to produce astronauts, as we have been focused on communications and surveillance with our space program, two emphases which are relatively inexpensive compared to even the most rudimentary manned missions. But if say Nadiya or New Verham were to welcome candidates from Kalistan into their space programs, there are, I am sure plenty of people who could qualify for their program, and would like to participate. We could also help support the program from Spencer, where we could provide additional communications from Kalistan, as well as launch facilities and fabrication facilities to assist in their programs. This kind of support role would be one that we would definitely be interested in being in, to help bear some of the costs and the burden."

West says the mission of ISCA includes advancing human knowledge, but it says nothing about prestige. "ISCA believes that scientific investigation is about increasing human knowledge about the natural world. As such our mission is not to get to Point X first so we can plant our flag and claim to be the first to do it. That's not important in our view. Because there is nowhere we can feasibly go, and safely return from, that some other human didn't set foot thousands of years ago. That said, there is still so much to learn about our earth and our solar system which, to be honest, we've only scratched the surface of. And if someone is interested in doing that kind of work, we are interested in helping, regardless of prestige."

West says formal telegrams have been sent to the Nadiyan Space Program as well as the new Dovanian Space agency in New Verham, with words of congratulations and stating the desire to cooperate in any way we can, including use of launch, fabrication and mission control facilities at Spencer. "Our calendar is not incredibly busy right now," said Director West. "We are doing maintenance work on our current in-orbit assets, and we may do one to two new launches each year. We have excess capacity that can be use to help others out and fulfill our mission of advancing human understanding."

@TheRepubic