NPR

As NASA Aims For The Moon, An Aging Space Station Faces An Uncertain Future

The International Space Station is getting older, and NASA is hoping that commercial businesses will take over so that the space agency can focus its efforts on a return to the moon.
Expedition 59 Flight Engineers (from left) Anne McClain, David Saint-Jacques and Christina Koch inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory.

When a rocket carrying the first module of the International Space Station blasted off from Kazakhstan in November of 1998, NASA officials said that the station would serve as an orbiting home for astronauts and cosmonauts for at least 15 years.

It's now been over 18 years that the station has been continuously occupied by people. The place is impressive, with more living space than a six-bedroom house, two bathrooms and a large bay window for looking down at Earth.

NASA and its international partners have spent decades and more than $100

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