With the International Space Station (ISS) scheduled to retire in 2030, NASA is placing a huge emphasis on a seamless shift to future private space stations in low-Earth orbit. Many details of that transition are still being worked out, agency officials say.
"The reason this is so important is because we do believe that the impact of a gap will be disruptive," said ISS director, Robyn Gatens, during a panel discussion at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference earlier this month.
A few key players who could be impacted by that "gap" include scientists looking to send research experiments to space as well as crew and cargo transportation providers. Given NASA's expected two-year transition period, a commercial successor must be operating by 2028 to prevent any such complications.
Source: www.space.com
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