NASA updates strategy for commercial space stations as ISS retirement nears
WASHINGTON -About five years from now, a modified Dragon spacecraft will begin to fire its Draco thrusters, pushing the International Space Station out of its orbit and sending the largest object humans have built in space inexorably to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. And then what?
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8 August 2025 - As the International Space Station (ISS) approaches its planned retirement around 2030, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has radically restructured its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations (CLD) program. Its evolving strategy shifts NASA’s role from operator to client-supporting privately owned space stations and purchasing access rather than maintaining the ISS
The updated strategy reflects a shift in NASA’s role from operator to customer. Rather than maintaining its own orbital laboratory, NASA will buy access to private space stations built and operated by industry partners. The agency aims to support early crewed missions to commercial platforms by 2029 and achieve sustained six-month missions by 2031.
NASA hopes to reduce risk and increase resilience in maintaining a continuous U.S. human presence in orbit. The agency said its revamped plan is intended to ensure there is no gap between ISS decommissioning and the availability of commercial alternatives.
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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
