{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In October 2000, a Soyuz rocket carried the first expedition to the International Space Station, beginning its permanent residency aboard the laboratory. Humans have occupied a place in space ever since. NASA is now preparing for the next step in human spaceflight with plans to leave the International Space Station in 2031.
“We’re constantly servicing the space station. We’re constantly sending our astronauts on spacewalks, and they do,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. “Suppose we didn’t have any commercial stations ready to go. Technically, we could keep the space station going, but the idea was to keep it flying until 2030 and deorbit it in 2031.”
When the International Space Station de-orbits, it will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. Most of it will burn up, but some will survive the heat of re-entry.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It’s the size of a football stadium,” Nelson said. “We have to be able to place them very precisely in the graveyard in the South Pacific.”
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NASA Director Bill Nelson stands in a photo of the International Space Station. (Getty Images)
It is the largest structure ever built in space. In the 1990s, the Russians played a role in selecting the site where the ISS would orbit.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“So far in advance, five or six years in advance, we’re developing the de-orbit vehicle. You never know with the things that President Putin is planning. What’s our relationship going to be? Can we continue to rely on our partners on the space station to help land it? So we’re not taking any chances,” Nelson said.
NASA now partners with commercial companies from both the US and allies around the world.
“There are limitations to being on a multi-government space station,” said Jeffrey Manber, president of the International Space Stations Division at Voyager Space.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Voyager and its international partners plan to launch Starlab into a lower Earth orbit.
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According to the company, it is more efficient and cost-effective than what the US and Russians agreed to in the 1990s.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“If you are commercial, you don’t have to be political, as we had to be 30 years ago when we invited the Russians,” Manber said.
Like the ISS, Voyager’s Starlab will still be an international base, working with companies from around the world.
A photo of the International Space Station taken on March 30, 2022, by the crew of the Russian Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft after they separated from the station. (Roscosmos State Space Corporation via AP, file)
“The Europeans are represented by Airbus, the Japanese are represented by Mitsubishi Corporation. We just announced that MDA from Canada is doing the robotic arm,” Manber said. “And of course we have the support of NASA. So it’s really exciting how we’ve put this together to be truly international.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NASA believes that moving to commercial partnerships will also benefit national security.
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“You see the abrupt separation, much of the free world from Russia as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Interestingly enough, the only part of the relationship between Russia and the United States that still works is the cooperation in not just running and maintaining and launching astronauts and cosmonauts together. That is a stable professional relationship with no hiccups,” Nelson said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After a series of delays, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft lifts off from Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test at 10:52 a.m. June 5, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Besides the ISS, the only other building where astronauts orbit is the Chinese Space Station. Beijing was banned from the International Space Station, largely due to U.S. concerns about the Chinese military’s control of the space program. Russia plans to launch its own space station in 2027. India also hopes to have its own station in the near future. The U.S. believes that removing government control of space will benefit life on Earth.
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“If you orbit the Earth every 90 minutes, you don’t see religious divisions on Earth. You don’t see racial divisions. You don’t see political divisions,” Nelson said. “What you see is our home, the planet. You see that we are all citizens of planet Earth. That is a unifying factor.”