JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

International Space Station received 2001 Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation

National Space Development Agency of Japan

As the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) had issued a press release on July 11, the International Space Station (ISS) was honoured with the 2001 Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation. Representatives of the ISS partner space agencies, from the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan, received the award from HRH the Prince of Asturias in Oviedo, Spain on October 26.

The Prince of Asturias Foundation granted this Award in recognition of the efforts made "to achieve international cooperation that have been necessary to turn this enormous orbiting laboratory for scientific research for a greater understanding of our planet into a reality".

HRH the Prince of Asturias also congratulated the six astronauts now on board the ISS during a satellite link on October 26. The astronauts include a crew of one American and two Russians who have been on board since August and another crew of two Russians and one French who are halfway through an eight-day mission.

The Prince of Asturias Foundation, whose Honorary President is HRH the Prince of Asturias, is a non-profit institution whose aims are to consolidate the ties between the the Principality of Asturias and its Prince and to promote science, technology, art and literature.

The Award for International Cooperation is given "to an individual, group or institution whose work has contributed in an exemplary and significant way to mutual understanding, progress and brotherhood among nations". Previous winners have included Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, Itzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, and Mikhail Gorbachev.

This event was broadcasted on the following networks:
-Spanish network TVE
-NASA TV (http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html) for images from ISS.
-ESA TV (http://television.esa.int/default.cfm)