Besides serving as a platform for Research and Development, the International
Space Station is also open for business. The three-day ISS Forum 2001, held
in Berlin between 5 and 7 June, will show you just how open.

At the Forum, you can enjoy a 3-D virtual reality tour of the ISS. A visit to
ISS Forum 2001 is almost as good as a visit to the station itself — and you
make more useful contacts too. The Forum will also cost you a good deal less
than the $20 million paid by space tourist Dennis Tito for his ISS trip. You
can meet many of the key people behind the project. These include leading
figures in the US, European, Russian, Japanese and Canadian space agencies,
as well as the three astronauts who formed the station’s first crew.

As a piece of orbiting engineering, the ISS is unique. So are the
opportunities it can offer to companies on the leading edge of 21st-century
business. At the Forum, you can join seminars led by recognized experts on
business sectors from biotechnology to marketing, from material science to
information technology.

The current crew will also join in some discussions, live from orbit.
There will be hands-on exhibitions of ISS hardware, too, with multimedia
presentations of research, development and commercial projects that are
already under way.

Visit the ISS Forum 2001 website,

http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/ISSForum2001/

Related Links

* ISS Forum 2001

http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/ISSForum2001/

* ESA’s ISS homepage

http://www.estec.esa.nl/spaceflight/

* ISS video

http://www.br-online.de/cgi-bin/ravi?f=iss.rm&v=wissenschaft/spacenight/v/

IMAGE CAPTIONS:

[Image 1:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/ESA8EYLBAMC_index_1.html]
ISS. The astronaut installed the solar panels in December 2000.

[Image 2:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/ESA8EYLBAMC_index_1.html#subhead2]
Expedition Two crew on the International Space Station (ISS). From left to
right: Astronaut James S. Voss, cosmonaut Yury V. Usachev and astronaut
Susan J. Helms (Photo: NASA).