“One of the compromises when we brought the Russians aboard ISS construction in the 90’s.”
I had no idea. So the Russians wanted the high inclination so it would fly over their territory?
It has to do with the launch latitude. You get the best performance of a launch vehicle by using the rotation of the Earth to assist in getting to orbit (launch East as the Earth rotates). Its more costly to launch into a lower inclination or a higher inclination. Florida launches are at 28 degrees latitude. Russia launches from higher latitude (~48 degrees). So the joint design when Russia was welcomed in after the USSR dissolved was the higher latitude to accommodate them better. Lots of other trades that play into that (safe launch directions for range safety, science goals, etc) but this was one of them.