ISS operation will be extended: In 2030-2031, the station will be removed from Earth's orbit

The operation of the International Space Station (ISS) will be extended for several more years. The space agencies of the United States, Japan, Canada and Europe have announced that they are ready to continue the operation of the ISS until 2030, and the Russian Roscosmos has confirmed its participation in the program until 2028. In 2030-2031, the station will most likely be removed from the Earth's orbit.

NASA said it will continue to work with partner space agencies to ensure an uninterrupted presence in low Earth orbit and a safe transition from ISS to commercial space stations in the future.

“The International Space Station is an incredible partnership with a common goal to advance science and exploration,” said Robyn Gatens, director of the International Space Station Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Extending our time aboard this amazing platform allows us to reap the benefits of more than two decades of experiments and technology demonstrations, as well as continue to materialize even greater discovery to come.”

For his part, the head of NASA, Bill Nelson, speaking at the hearing of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology of the House of Representatives of the US Congress, said that in 2030-2031 it is planned to take the ISS out of orbit, because it is already "obsolete". Later, many functions of the station will be transferred to private companies. According to him, works are already underway for this purpose.

ISS was launched in 1998 and since then 266 people from 20 countries have visited it. The ISS conducts experiments in a variety of fields, including earth and space science, biology, human physiology, and the physical sciences. The station has also hosted demonstrations of technologies that cannot be implemented on Earth. In microgravity conditions, researchers have conducted more than 3,300 experiments on the station.