Roscosmos, NASA to enter into talks on future of ISS

The future of the International Space Station (ISS) will begin to be discussed by the joint commission of the consultative expert council of Roscosmos and NASA’s Advisory Council next week, the press-service of TsNIIMash said on Friday.

According to current plans, the ISS is to stay in use till 2024, but the possibility is being explored of prolonging its lifecycle till 2028.

"Within the framework of the joint commission’s activities concerning the ISS the experts of national space agencies will conduct a number of meetings to assess the technical condition of the Russian and US segments, analyze the operations being carried out on board and in outer space, discuss crew safety matters and the outlook for using the unique international space laboratory for outer space exploration further on," the statement says.

Among other things the commission will consider various life support aspects, such as the ISS readiness to accommodate more expeditions, the availability of food, water and fuel, as well as the results of scientific experiments to be staged in the near future, and the schedule of launches of manned and cargo spacecraft.

The commission’s meetings will begin at TsNIIMash starting from September 10.