In response, the Nixon administration cut NASA's budgets and ordered them to focus on a reusable Shuttle program. On the other hand, the Soviets moved on to uncrewed landings on Mars and Venus and beat the Americans in launching the first space station - Salyut 1. However, from this point on innovation in space began to decline. The space community faced a double whammy due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the inaction of subsequent American administrations. The situation improved slightly under the Clinton administration when construction of the International Space Station (ISS) began. However, apart from the United States, no other major country has been involved in space