Ever since President John Kennedy stepped up to the podium at Rice University in 1962 and challenged America to do the impossible, we have been enamored with space. Seven years later, America had landed men on the moon and established supremacy in the Space Race. The year 1981 saw the first flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia, ferrying crew and cargo on numerous important missions. In 1998, we saw the blossoming of international relations in space with the launch of the first segment of the International Space Station (ISS).