Russia Is Investing $50 Billion In Its (Very Ambitious) Space Program

An international space agency would help relieve issues of funding. All countries would contribute an amount of funds to the space agency, even the poorer countries would contribute a smaller amount relative to their GDP, but combined would be a large amount, and of course the countries with more money to spend, and the ones with active manned space programs, like the US, China and Russia would be contributing the most.

An international space agency would also be more neutral, rather than nationalistic for one country, they could put the flag on Earth on Mars and the Moon.

The International Space Station was the first step in a new era of international cooperation in space. But of course tensions and divisions threaten to prevent an international effort.