As a matter of policy, the US was eager to share in scientific endeavors with the Europeans but refused to provide launch vehicle data unless the French agreed not to use any in military projects or do anything to undercut INTELSAT. To add insult to injury, the US sold the Thor-Delta technology to the Japanese when they had refused to do so for the French. Thus in 1972 a new European Space Agency was formed from the remains of the national programs. ESA developed an independent launch capability the ariane that in 1979 succeeded in putting a European satellite in orbit from Korou. The French then formed a quasiprivate company to market the services of Ariane and the US launch share steadily eroded and after Challenger was lost for good In the meantime the Soviets turned their attention to space stations. They launched Salyut I in 1971 then a series of space stations staying for up to 6 months in space. They did experiments and learned how to live and survive in space. In contrast these were no US astronauts in space from 1975 to 1981. The Soviets also developed a Shuttle, used it once and then decided it was too expensive to operate and never used it again. The Soviets also developed satellite interceptors and had an operational ASAT system. The Us never did develop an AsaT but did develop an F15 launched missile that destroyed one old satellite as a test in the 80s The commercial industry continued to grow under INTELSAT and the Open Skies policy in the US. The first domestic Comsat was launched in 1974 using C-band By 1980, Ku band satellites were available. These ultimately enabled the now ubiquity private networks (e.g. at Shell stations for card authorization). Once again the commerc al market was growingAs a matter of policy, the US was eager to share in scientific endeavors with the Europeans but refused to provide launch vehicle data unless the French agreed not to use any in military projects or do anything to undercut INTELSAT. To add insult to injury, the US sold the Thor-Delta technology to the Japanese when they had refused to do so for the French. Thus in 1972 a new European Space Agency was formed from the remains of the national programs. ESA developed an independent launch capability the Ariane that in 1979 succeeded in putting a European satellite in orbit from Korou. The French then formed a quasiprivate company to market the services of Ariane and the US launch share steadily eroded and after Challenger was lost for good. In the meantime the Soviets turned their attention to space stations. They launched Salyut I in 1971 then a series of space stations staying for up to 6 months in space. They did experiments and learned how to live and survive in space. In contrast these were no US astronauts in space from 1975 to 1981. The Soviets also developed a Shuttle, used it once and then decided it was too expensive to operate and never used it again. The Soviets also developed satellite interceptors and had an operational ASAT system. The US never did develop an ASAT but did develop an F15 launched missile that destroyed one old satellite as a test in the 80’s. The commercial industry continued to grow under INTELSAT and the Open Skies policy in the US. The first domestic Comsat was launched in 1974 using C-band. By 1980, Ku band satellites were available. These ultimately enabled the now ubiquitous private networks (e.g. at Shell stations for card authorization). Once again the commercial market was growing