NASA's Aging Space Station Faces Budget Cuts and Orbital Gap

As the International Space Station (ISS) ages, NASA is facing the possibility of a gap in capabilities for human spaceflight in low-Earth orbit (LEO) by 2030, as no private facilities may be ready to take over. NASA's plan is to continue flying the ISS until 2030 and then lease time on commercially operated stations. However, the development of these commercial LEO destinations (CLDs) may not be ready in time due to challenges in planning, funding, and schedules. While NASA does not want a gap, they believe it would not be unrecoverable and could leverage SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's Starliner to lessen the impact. Funding challenges and the potential extension of the ISS beyond 2030 could further hinder the development of commercial space stations.