Some people argue that space exploration has had more to do with national pride than international effort. To what extent do you agree with this? How do you think space exploration will change in the future?

It has been generally believed that researching extraterrestrial areas is more about intercontinental competition than collaboration of states in order to work together to achieve the highest results. Well known fact, that During the Cold War, most powerful countries - USSR and the United States had a race of space programs, they fought for the right to become a pioneer in the universe exploration. Nowadays, this situation has changed over time and I strongly believe that the spirit of co-operation made many countries to use their resources to reach their goals and make contribution in space discovery. Undoubtedly, collaborations help to simplify the work. For example, China and North America became partners in terms of space explorations leaving all pride and distrust behind. With the Chinese advanced technology and the United States scientific research base they attain targets. How space exploration will change is an interesting question. Clearly, wide range of programs, which are sponsored by governments, allows agencies such as NASA, CNSA and Roscosmos to create more and more advanced spaceships to cover the tremendous distances in our solar system. There is every likelihood, that even small mutual activities between the first world countries will push the boundaries and motivate other regions to join. As far as I am concerned, joint programs are of benefit to the development of science and to the progress in general. Most certainly, there is fair chance to to make space traveling possible in the nearest future and humans will probably be able to inhabit other planets. Having said that, if countries will step over their prejudice to achieve a higher goal far all mankind, then they can reach extraordinary results in a short time. Strong partnerships inevitably are likely to lead us to interstellar success.