At its founding, the European Space Research Organization was modeled on CERN, a supposedly apolitical international scientific cooperation project. CERN, however, had two more founding members than ESRO--Greece and Yugoslavia. The latter two, primarily for budgetary reasons, were not invited to the foundation of ESRO (indeed, Yugoslavia would in the same year ESRO was founded also withdraw from CERN for budgetary reasons).
But suppose the Yugoslavian government scrounges up a bit more cash and both remains in CERN and joins ESRO. Would the presence of a communist country, even non-Soviet-aligned, in ESRO have any important consequences? Or would it be a minor footnote that culminates in a Yugoslav astronaut flying in the 1980s or something like that? Could it open the door for actual Warsaw Pact members in ESRO/ESA?
But suppose the Yugoslavian government scrounges up a bit more cash and both remains in CERN and joins ESRO. Would the presence of a communist country, even non-Soviet-aligned, in ESRO have any important consequences? Or would it be a minor footnote that culminates in a Yugoslav astronaut flying in the 1980s or something like that? Could it open the door for actual Warsaw Pact members in ESRO/ESA?