It is planned to abandon the ship from 2024, but work will continue to create a private station by the end of the decade.
The NASA has confirmed that the United States will continue to cooperate in the global program of the International Space Station until 2030.
“The International Space Station is a beacon of peaceful international scientific collaboration and for more than 20 years has generated tremendous scientific, educational and technological advancements for the benefit of humanity,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement .
Despite tensions
The future of the International Space Station was called into question in 2018, when a draft budget proposal from the administration of President Donald Trump had scheduled the end of support for the space station in 2025.
NASA’s announcement comes amid heightened tensions with Russia, one of several nations that share access to the International Space Station. 2021 also saw Russia deepen its cooperation in space with China, another adversary of the United States .
Spring 2021 saw multiple emergencies aboard the ISS, with the United States blaming Russia for both.
In October, surprise test fire from a docked Russian spacecraft caused the ISS to tilt out of its normal position, prompting personnel on board to briefly evacuate.
Then, in November, debris from the satellite forced the station’s astronauts to seek shelter in the day after a “strike” with Russian missiles. The United States condemned Russia for the attack, but the country did not acknowledge any wrongdoing.
During the message, NASA also highlighted among its ongoing projects sending humans to Mars, as well as Project Artemis, an effort to send the first woman and the first person of color to the Moon.