NASA and the European Space Agency ( ESA ) have both express intentions to keep the International Space Station ( ISS ) operating at least until 2030 , representing asix - yr extensionon its previous net operating date .
NASA has also secured political support from the White House to see to it the money is there to make this come about . Two of the station ’s other partner , the space agencies of Japan and Canada , are also expected to come on circuit board , but Russia isconsidering withdrawalfrom 2025 . Since the US provides most of the ISS ’s support , whatever the place ’s name may say , endorsement from NASA is likely to see its continuation .
In a twelvemonth broadly speaking regarded as one of the unfit , NASA seemed determined to allow for some hope over the vacation time of year . After the Christmas Daysuccessful launchof the most powerful infinite telescope yet , the ISS extension was denote on New Year ’s Eve .
“ The International Space Station is a beacon of peaceful international scientific collaborationism and for more than 20 age has devolve enormous scientific , educational , and technological developments to do good humanity , ” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson in astatement . “ I ’m pleased that the Biden - Harris Administration has committed to continuing post operations through 2030 . ”
The following 24-hour interval ESA director Josef Aschbacher indicated his agency ’s conjunction .
NASA note more than 3,000 research investigations have been conduct on the ISS in the 23 age since it began operations . Although it is often the quirky ones that get attention , such as a$23 million toilet , blank cookie , andspace tacos , the ISS ’s piece of work is vital if long - terminus space commission are to occur . If future missions to Mars desire togrow fresh foodon the way or but ensure astronaut ' bones do n’t collapse fromtoo long in micro - sombreness , it will be ISS work that shows them the way . More urgently , Nelson referred to the Artemis program’splanned reappearance to the Moonas another project that will benefit from ISS study .
Meanwhile , people on Earth welfare from the measure of ecosystem wellness and gain ground inwater recyclingthat take berth from the eye above the sky .
The announcement follows the passage of theLeading Human Spaceflight Actsupporting just such an file name extension , which pop off Congress in 2018 . However , NASA ’s previous executive , James Bridenstine , had indicated a taste for the private sphere totake over operationsin low - ground orbit .
Despite the reference , NASA is start out the process of planning for what comes next , a calendar month ago provide contracts to designfuture space stations .
