The U.S. Space Program if floundering to say the least. Obama, in an effort to cut spending, has cut much of NASA funding. This decline has led to other countries, in this case Russia, to advance their own space programs. They have started conducting unmanned missions, even sending craft as far as Mars.

Russia like many countries in Europe is not alone in their efforts, but has received some support from the European Space Agency. (Even though they are not members.) Russia has assisted the ESA on numerous occasions, most recently locating a lost Mars probe.

The name of the once missing probe is Phobos-Grunts and shortly after its launch on November 9^th it disappeared. The accepted theory was that it was not powerful enough to break out of Earths orbit and thus became trapped. On  November 22^nd a Russian Space Station picked up a signal from the probe.

They were able to determine exactly were it is and the ESA have several plans to bring it back to Earth. Unfortunately for Phobos-Grunts it will no longer be able to complete it mission to go to Mars. Not only has it missed its window of opportunity but also has very little fuel left.

I for one am glad that countries have banded together to further advance Space technologies