Life & English: NASA plans to retire ISS, use private stations

The American space agency NASA says it will keep supporting the International Space Station (ISS) through 2030. After that, it plans to retire the ISS and use privately developed stations.

NASA recently released a report on its plans for transitioning from the ISS to one or more space stations that would be developed by private companies. The ISS has been operating for more than 20 years. The first piece of the floating space laboratory was launched into space in 1998. The ISS has been widely praised as a scientific success. But NASA and its international partners have recognized that it cannot continue to operate forever. NASA notes in the report that the ISS is currently the busiest it has ever been, with the addition of private space companies now transporting astronauts and supplies.

In the future, NASA says its goal is to completely move to privately developed space laboratories for all its space lab needs. This way, NASA will be paying the space station operators “only for the goods and services the agency needs.” NASA has already chosen three private American companies to develop future space stations.

Edited by QM

Source: VoA