International Space Station to be retired soon, here's what NASA plans to do next; Read

NASA made 42 launches to get the gigantic orbiting laboratory International Space Station (ISS) in space in 1998. Since then it has hosted astronauts on space missions from over 19 countries. But now, ISS will soon be retired with no replacement from the space agency. Angela Hart, manager of the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Program Office at NASA told the reporters that the International Space Station (ISS) has been approved to operate only through December 2024, post which the agreements struck by NASA with its international partners end. 

However, NASA is expected to support a new generation of space stations by private entities after International Space Station (ISS) retires. NASA is planning to develop new commercial space stations for future low Earth orbit missions (LEO), reports suggest. “ISS is an amazing system, but unfortunately it won't last forever,” Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA headquarters told the media. 

The plan to defund the space station was incorporated when former US President Donald Trump introduced the budget proposal on February 11, last year. There was no mention of America’s involvement in the International Space Station, and the proposal called for NASA to sell shares of ISS by 2025. The plan however attracted condemnation, including from former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, who had, at the time, warned that “cutting funding for the station would be a step backward for the space agency and certainly not in the best interest of the country.” 

The Assembly of NASA’s ISS that was completed in 2011 involved five partner countries—Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia, and the United States. Initially, there were plans to operate it just until the year 2020, but the US later decided to extend its life until 2024. But now as its timeline to retirement nears, NASA has other plans in the pipeline.

The Expedition 65 crew worked on botany and biology research while the cosmonauts took a break from spacewalk. Credit: NASA

Spacewalker Thomas Pesquet is attached to the tip of the Canadarm2 robotic arm to install the station’s second new solar array. Credit: NASA

NASA Administrator expects orbiting lab to last until 2030

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on August 25 at the 36th Space Symposium that the space station is assuredly retiring in 2024 but he still expects the orbiting lab to last to 2030. "We expect to expand the space station as a government project all the way to 2030. And we hope it will be followed by commercial stations," Nelson said during a "Heads of Agency" panel on Wednesday. 

Hurricane Henri was pictured nearing the US east coast from the space station ISS. Credit: NASA

NASA plans to deploy a commercial space station as China has already begun the installation of its own Tiangong space station. However, speaking at a media conference, Nelson said that the US is prohibited to conduct bilateral space activity with China. “Unfortunately, I believe we're in a space race with China,” he said.

"I'm speaking on behalf of the United States, for China to be a partner. I'd like China to do with us as a military adversary, like Russia has done, I would like to try to do that. But China is very secretive, and part of the civilian space program is that you've got to be transparent,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. 

Since its launch, ISS has logged 1,10,000 laps around Earth and has been housed at some point by a total of 553 astronauts. But now, the ISS will be steered into the Pacific Ocean. Although making room for other possibilities, former astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, now a professor at MIT told reporters, “There are lots of potential uses, such as scientific investigations or the rivate enterprise could turn it into a space hotel.”