Space Station’s Future Is Secure, Claims ESA
The International Space Station (ISS) could remain operational until at least 2020, and quite possibly until 2028, the European Space Agency (ESA) said at a Tokyo meeting on Thursday.
The reportedly $100 billion ISS is due to be completed later this year, despite setbacks including budget woes and the loss of the American space shuttles used to transport station parts into orbit.
The space station has been 12 years in the making, and its future is secure through 2015, but the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) budget woes have caused speculation about its long-term viability.
Those concerns are unfounded, according to a March 11 ESA press release.
"There are no identified technical constraints to continuing ISS operations beyond the current planning horizon of 2015 to at least 2020," the statement, released following the Thursday meeting between space agency officials from the United States, Canada, Japan, and Russia. "The partnership is currently working to certify on-orbit elements through 2028."
American president Barack Obama has vowed to phase out NASA’s venerable space shuttle program by year’s end, but has pledged to remain involved in both the planning and funding of the ISS. As an alternative, Obama is exploring support for commercial flights into space.
The space shuttle project, known officially as the Space Transport System (STS), was formally launched in January 1972. The first flight occurred on April 13, 1981, when the Columbia and its two-person crew launched on the twentieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s ascent into space. The most recent flight occurred in February 2010. In all, the STS program has been involved in 130 missions.
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Image Caption: The International Space Station is featured in this image photographed by an STS-130 crew member on space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative separation. Credit: NASA
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