During meetings and public events at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Oct. 12-16 in Jerusalem, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and several other NASA officials highlighted the agency's recently released plan to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030's.
NASA and the Israel Space Agency (ISA) of the Ministry of Science signed a new civil space cooperation agreement on October 13, 2015. The agreement was signed by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Menachem Kidron - Director General of the Israel Space Agency during the International Astronautical Congress hosted in Jerusalem by the ISA.
Israel's space program was born out of military need, but in recent years the civil space program has received an infusion of funding and next week it will host the annual International Astronautical Congress in Jerusalem.