[The extension] will allow NASA to complete necessary research activities aboard the ISS in support of planned long-duration human missions beyond low-Earth orbit—including our planned human mission to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s. NASA has determined that research on ISS is necessary to mitigate fully 21 of the 32 human-health risks anticipated on long-duration missions. A related critical function of ISS is testing the technologies and spacecraft systems necessary for humans to safely and productively operate in deep space. Extending ISS until 2024 will give us the necessary time to bring these systems to maturity.
On January 9th, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden reemphasized the role of the ISS in future space endeavors, making the following statement:
NASA is committed to the space station as a long-term platform to enable the utilization of space for global research and development. We’re committed to implementing a unified strategy of deep space exploration, with robotic and human missions to destinations that include near-Earth asteroids, the moon and Mars. And we are committed to our international partnerships and the continued peaceful uses of outer space and unlocking the mysteries of our vast universe.
Of course, Congress will still need to agree. And at $3 billion a year in maintenance costs, added to the recent scares, will not make this an easy argument. That said, the station represents a major piece of the American space program and after more than $100 billion in construction over more than a decade, to allow the station to become space junk earlier than necessary would be foolish.
The extension would also benefit smaller start up firms, such as SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, that are still getting their legs as they build new spacecraft and begin the privatization of space (or at least low Earth orbit). In fact, earlier today Orbital Sciences' Cygnus capsule successfully docked with the ISS to resupply its occupants. The only question now is whether we will have space partners down the road. China is already building its own space station and Russia has been thinking of doing the same.
