NASA assumes that the International Space Station will be de-orbited in 2031. By that time, the Americans and their partners can put into operation the Lunar Lunar Gateway.
Recently, the West has been increasingly talking about the future of the ISS, and it seems that Americans and Europeans will not abandon the station in the coming years. The new timing of the flooding of the station is reported in the report of the US Space Agency.
They want to take the station out of orbit in January 2031. A few years ago, such deadlines could have been called "optimistic" due to the uncertain future of the ISS.
It is appropriate to recall that Russia, one of the main participants in the program, wants to create a national orbital station. In this case, it can be expected that the country will begin the procedure of withdrawal from the program around the middle of the decade.
Among the reasons for this decision, Moscow called the unsatisfactory state of the Russian segment of the ISS. Perhaps political contradictions also played a role.
Western countries also want to create a new station in the future. We are talking about the Lunar Gateway, which will allow us to better study the Earth's satellite. It may begin to be exploited in this decade.
