The International Space Station - A New Plan For The Iss

In January 2004 U.S. President George W. Bush announced a new plan for America's space program. This plan calls for retirement of the space shuttle fleet by 2010. President Bush also wants to end ISS assembly as soon as the core-complete configuration is obtained and eliminate all ISS research projects that do not support the new plans for space travel. The core-complete ISS would support a crew of only three people and not include some of the modules, habitat enhancements, and scientific facilities and equipment originally planned for the space station.

The plan for a downsized ISS was criticized by many scientists and the agency's international partners. The small crew size was a major point of contention. According to the National Research Council of the National Academies and National Academy of Public Administration, at least 2.5 crew members per expedition are required to maintain and operate the ISS (Factors Affecting the Utilization of the International Space Station for Research in the Biological and Physical Sciences [2003]). Thus, a crew of three people would have very little time to conduct scientific experiments.

In November 2005 NASA administrator Michael Griffin (1949–) appeared before the U.S. Congressional Committee on Science to provide an update on NASA's plans for the future, including assembly of the ISS. Griffin stated that the agency planned to assemble enough infrastructure on the station to house a six-person crew and to allow "meaningful utilization" of the ISS. The assembly plan included modules and laboratories from international partners, with the exception of a Centrifuge Accommodation Module being developed by JAXA (the Japanese space agency) and the Russian Solar Power Module. Final details were to be worked out in 2006. Griffin projected that eighteen space shuttle flights could be undertaken to the ISS before the shuttle is retired in 2010. After that NASA hopes to solicit commercial spaceflight to handle delivery and return of ISS crews and cargo, rather than using government spacecraft.