NASA Announces New Strategy: ISS Core Module Extension for Seamless Transition to Private Stations

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 02:16:00 +0200

During the NASA Ignition event in late March 2026, Administrator Jared Isaacman outlined updates to the Artemis program alongside a revised plan for the International Space Station (ISS), which is slated for retirement starting in 2030. While announcing lunar base ambitions and an orbital test for Artemis III, the ISS strategy shift received less attention. NASA has been funding private ventures under the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations (CLD) program, supporting stations like Axiom, Blue Origin's Blue Reef (also called Orbital Reef), and Starlab consortium. However, after 25 years, NASA notes no revolutionary commercial products, scalable space manufacturing markets, or robust space tourism have emerged, leaving US government subsidies essential. Independent verification of economic viability for NASA-backed stations is lacking. With multiple competing projects—including Haven-1 and Haven-2—NASA cannot back them all. The risk of a US presence gap in low Earth orbit (LEO) is hei