The European Space Agency hopes to extend the work of the ISS until 2030

The head of ESA, Josef Aschbacher, stressed that the ISS provides "unique opportunities for conducting research in space"

PARIS, January 18. /tass/. The European Space Agency (ESA) expects that the International Space Station (ISS) will continue its work until 2030. This was stated to journalists on Tuesday by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher.

"We hope to continue the work of the ISS until 2030," he said. "We are preparing proposals for our participation for the ministerial meeting of the EU countries on cooperation in space, which is due to take place in November."

The head of ESA stressed that the ISS provides "unique opportunities for conducting research in space." ESA, Aschbacher noted, highly appreciates "a whole series of experiments that French astronaut Tom Pesquet was able to conduct during the flight to the ISS."

The ISS has been in operation since 1998. ESA is one of the active participants of this scientific project together with Russia, the USA, Japan and Canada.