"In remarks this week to a Texas space organization, a key Senate staff member said an "extension" of the International Space Station is on the table and that NASA needs to accelerate a program to replace the aging station with commercial alternatives. Maddy Davis, a space policy staff member for US Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, made the comments to the Texas Space Coalition during a virtual event."
"Cruz is chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and has an outsized say in space policy. As a senator from Texas, he has a parochial interest in Johnson Space Center, where the International Space Station Program is led. "No gap" Davis said Cruz has repeatedly reaffirmed that one of his core priorities is establishing a continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit, with "no gap" in that capability."
An extension of the International Space Station is being considered while NASA is urged to accelerate replacement by commercial alternatives. Continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit is prioritized, with commercial stations expected to be operating before the ISS is de-orbited, currently scheduled for 2030. NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program previously funded four companies to develop station concepts and will enter Phase 2, when larger contracts worth at least hundreds of millions of dollars will be awarded. One or two companies will likely win and build stations using both public and private funding. A long-delayed request for proposals is due to be issued to start the competition.
#international-space-station #commercial-leo-destinations-clds #nasa-funding-and-rfp #continuous-human-presence-in-leo
Read at Ars Technica
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