Europe\u27s association with the Space Shuttle started in 1973 when the European Space Agency (ESA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NASA for the development in Europe with European funds of Spacelab. In addition, it was agreed that ESA would provide approximately one half of the first Spacelab payload which will be carried on the SL-1 mission in September 1983. Further usage of Spacelab is foreseen either in missions dedicated to European countries or in missions shared with NASA. Also, it is anticipated that European space projects will make use of the launch and recovery capability of the Space Shuttle when these services are considered to be cost attractive. Finally, augmentation of the Shuttle\u27s capabilities is another likely area of participation through the provision of a European-built upper stage.
This paper summarises these activities both from an ESA-NASA point of view and from the outlook of bilateral (i.e. NASA-ESA Member State) co-operation
