The U.S. space agency NASA will move up to the cislunar space — the area of space surrounding the moon — for an ambitious human exploration programme.
William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s chief of human spaceflight announced that they will be moving out of the ISS in low-Earth orbit and pursue cislunar space.
William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s chief of human spaceflight, said: “We are going to get out of ISS as quickly as we can. Whether it gets filled in by the private sector or not, NASA’s vision is we’re trying to move out.”
The orbiting international laboratory, a research ground for many innovating tests and some key science experiments, on astronauts in a zero-gravity atmosphere that have repercussions for the Earth is reported to become inoperative in either 2024 — or if given another extension — till 2028 at the latest.
The programme’s budget, about $3 billion annually, is projected to rise to nearly $4 billion by 2020.
NASA cannot afford both a robust space station programme and an active human exploration programme in cislunar space.
The ISS orbits Earth at about eight km per second. When decommissioned, NASA will likely deorbit the spacecraft and Earth’s gravitational pull and atmosphere will break it apart.
The ISS with humans on board turned 15 on November 2. The ISS is a unique laboratory that has enabled groundbreaking research in the life and physical sciences and has provided a test bed for the technologies that will allow NASA to once again send astronauts beyond Earth’s orbit.
The ISS, which U.S. President Barack Obama has extended through 2024, is a testament to the ingenuity and boundless imagination of the human spirit. For 15 years, humanity’s reach has extended beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.