In October 2000, the Soyuz rocket sent the first expedition mission to the International Space Station, and it began its permanent residence in the laboratory. Since then, humans have occupied a place in space. NASA is currently preparing for the next step in human space travel, with plans to deorbit the International Space Station in 2031.
“We’re constantly doing maintenance on the space station. We’re constantly sending astronauts on spacewalks, and that’s what they do,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Let’s say we don’t have a commercial space station ready. Technically, we can keep the space station operating, but the idea is to have it flying in 2030 and deorbiting in 2031.”
When the International Space Station deorbits, it will reenter Earth’s atmosphere. Most will burn up, but some will survive re-entry.
“It’s the size of a football field,” Nelson said. “We need to be able to place them very precisely into burial sites in the South Pacific.”
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson appears in a photo of the International Space Station. (Getty Images)
It is the largest structure ever built in space. In the 1990s, the Russians were involved in choosing where the International Space Station would orbit.
“So far in advance, five or six years in advance, we are developing deorbiting vehicles. You can never tell what President Putin is doing. What will our relationship be like? Can we continue to rely on it?” Our cooperation on the space station Partner to help take it down?
NASA is currently working with commercial companies in the United States and allied countries around the world.
“There are limitations to being on a space station operated by multiple governments,” said Jeffrey Manber, president of international and space station operations at Voyager Space.
Voyager and its international partners plan to launch Starlab into lower orbits.
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The company says this is more efficient and cost-effective than the agreement the United States and Russia reached in the 1990s.
“When you do business, you don’t have to be as political as you were when you invited Russia 30 years ago,” Manber said.
Like the International Space Station, Voyager’s interstellar laboratory will remain an international base. The company is working with companies around the world.
A view of the International Space Station taken by the crew of the Russian Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft after it undocked from the International Space Station on March 30, 2022. (Roscosmos, AP, File)
“Our European companies are represented by Airbus, and our Japanese companies are represented by Mitsubishi. We have just announced that MDA in Canada will produce robotic arms,” Manber said. “Of course, we have support from NASA. So it’s very exciting that we’re putting this together to be truly international.”
NASA believes a shift in commercial partnerships will also benefit national security.
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“You see, as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a lot of the free world suddenly separated from Russia. What’s interesting is that part of the relationship that still works between Russia and the United States is cooperation not only in operations and maintenance, but also in astronauts and astronauts together. Launch is a stable professional relationship with no barriers,” Nelson said.
After a series of delays, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying a Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launched at 10:52 a.m. on June 5, 2024, from Launch Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Used for NASA’s Boeing crew flight tests. (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu, Getty Images)
Apart from the International Space Station, the only structure housing astronauts in orbit is China’s space station. Beijing is banned from the International Space Station primarily because of U.S. concerns about Chinese military control of its space program. Russia plans to launch its orbital service station in 2027. The United States believes that freeing itself from government control of space will help benefit life on Earth.
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“When you circle the Earth every 90 minutes, you don’t see religious divisions on the planet. You don’t see racial divisions. You don’t see political divisions,” Nelson said. “What you see is our home, the Earth. You see we are all citizens of the Earth. It’s a unifying factor.”
