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from the wish-me-luck-as-you-wave-me-bye-bye dept.
A draft budget proposal would end support for the International Space Station (ISS) by 2025. The U.S. was previously committed to operating at the ISS until 2024:
The Trump administration is preparing to end support for the International Space Station program by 2025, according to a draft budget proposal reviewed by The Verge. Without the ISS, American astronauts could be grounded on Earth for years with no destination in space until NASA develops new vehicles for its deep space travel plans.
The draft may change before an official budget request is released on February 12th. However, two people familiar with the matter have confirmed to The Verge that the directive will be in the final proposal. We reached out to NASA for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Also at the Wall Street Journal.
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(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday January 26 2018, @12:11AM (3 children)
Notice how we are continuing our support through 2025? This is all a plot for Trump to continue to fund taxpayer money through Russian rocket shell companies and back into his own pocket. Russians are playing us like a lyre.
In all seriousness I think it is kind of silly to discuss the future of the ISS when the BRF will be capable of putting up components larger than most of what is on the ISS by 2022. By that point we just deorbit the modules that are no longer useful and add in ones that are.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 5, Interesting) by c0lo on Friday January 26 2018, @12:49AM (2 children)
How about we see it first and decide to upgrade after we are sure we have a replacement?
Notice how the administration says "I'm gonna throw it out" but doesn't say "we gonna replace it with somethin' better"?
Yeah, right, the "go to the Moon" directive - no meat so far, not details about how and when.
By contrast, :ISS defunded in 2025" is damn'd precise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday January 26 2018, @02:37AM
I was not disagreeing with you
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Friday January 26 2018, @03:15AM
The ISS is a modular system (end of life or outdated modules can be replaced, upgraded), and it's being used as a proof-of-concept base for all kinds of next-generation missions: Mars transit habitats, navigation systems, deep space propulsion units, etc. etc. To think that we can just put up an oversized Gemini capsule and accomplish the same things that the ISS can do is clearly willfully ignoring the facts.
If we're never going to do manned missions again, then, sure - deorbit the ISS ASAP and launch SkyNet to replace it. Until then, the ISS is useful as long as it's habitable.
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