The scientific community in Midway was interested in constructing a space station throughout history, but the government hadn't found a reason to do so. It wasn't until Midwayan Emperor Zabuza Hashimoto showed interest in constructing a space station that it was given serious consideration. The JBRican space agency, FASA, had shown interest in outer-space missions as well, even completing the shuttle Hope. On June 24, 2011, the Midwayan Aerospace Exploration Agency was founded and Zabuza Hashimoto immediately sent a request to JBR for the start of the Rengō Program as a joint program between JBR and Midway.