The MESS Space Agency (MSA) is an intergovernmental organization that utilizes resources provided by member organizations for the purpose of directing manned and unmanned exploration in space. In practice the MSA operates most of the civilian manned spaceflight programs under central authority and not under the aegis of local components while the daughter agencies, paticularly those not affiliated with the MESS itself, engage in additional unmanned activities. The principal headquarters for the Agency is in the Shinra Republic at Johnson Spaceflight Center with subsidiary sites throughout the world.