Giovanni Castellaneta, Ambassador of Italy, makes comments about the STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope during a visit by the crew to the Embassy of Italy in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. makes comments about the STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope during a visit by the crew to the Embassy of Italy in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Giovanni Castellaneta, Ambassador of Italy, left, shakes hands with STS-125 Mission Specialist Mike Massimino during a visit by the crew of STS-125 to the Embassy of Italy in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., left, speaks with Giovanni Castellaneta, Ambassador of Italy, during a visit with the crew of STS-125 to the Embassy of Italy in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

STS-125 Mission Specialist Mike Massimino makes comments about the STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope during a visit by the crew to the Embassy of Italy in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

STS-125 Mission Specialist Mike Massimino, left, an American of Italian descent, makes comments about the STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope during a visit by the crew to the Embassy of Italy in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Italian European Space Agency Astronaut Paolo Nespoli makes comments about the STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope during a visit by the crew to the Embassy of Italy in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Nespoli was assigned to the crew of STS-120, an International Space Station (ISS) assembly mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Members of the crew of STS-125, from left, Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel, Michael Good, Commander Scott Altman and Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld share a laugh with about the STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope during a visit by the crew to the Embassy of Italy in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Italian Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta, second from left, is presented with a montage by STS-125 Mission Specialist Mike Massimino, second from right, during a visit by the crew of STS-125 to the Embassy of Italy in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Other crew members, from left are Mission Specialists, Michael Good, Megan McArthur, John Grunsfeld, Commander Scott Altman and Andrew Feustel, far right. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the International Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, senior government officials from 15 countries participating in the space station program signed agreements in Washington D.C. on Jan. 29 to establish the framework of cooperation among the partners on the design, development, operation and utilization of the space station. Acting Secretary of State Strobe Talbott signed the 1998 Intergovernmental Agreement on Space Station Cooperation with representatives of Russia, Japan, Canada, and participating countries of the European Space Agency ESA -- Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Some of these officials then toured Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility SSPF with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, at front, sixth from the left. They are, left to right, front to back: Hidetoshi Murayama, National Space Development Agency of Japan NASDA Louis Laurent, Embassy of France Haakon Blankenborg, Norwegian Parliament Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs His Excellency Joris Vos, ambassador of the Netherlands His Excellency Tom Vraalsen, ambassador of Norway Goldin Luigi Berlinguer, Italian minister for education, scientific, and technological research Antonio Rodota, director general, ESA Yvan Ylieff, Belgian minister of science and chairman of the ESA Ministerial Council Jacqueline Ylieff Masaaki Komatsu, Kennedy local NASDA representative and interpreter Serge Ivanets, space attache, Embassy of Russia Hiroshi Fujita, Science and Technology Agency of Japan Akira Mizutani, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Peter Grognard, science attache', Royal Embassy of Belgium Michelangelo Pipan, Italian diplomatic counselor to the minister His Excellency Gerhard Fulda, German Federal Foreign Office Jorg Feustel-Buechl, ESA director of manned space flight and microgravity A. Yakovenko, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs JoAnn Morgan, Kennedy associate director for Advanced Development and Shuttle Upgrades Steve Francois, director, International Space Station and Shuttle Processing Roy Tharpe, Boeing launch site manager Jon Cowart, ISS elements manager John Schumacher, NASA associate administrator for external relations Didier Kechemair, space advistor to the French minister for education, research, and technology Yoshinori Yoshimura, NASDA and Loren Shriver, Kennedy deputy director for launch and payload processing. Node 1 of the ISS is in the background. Photo Credit: NASA