NASA Readies Astronaut Training for Post-2030 Commercial Stations at Johnson Center
Updated
Updated · Space.com · Aug 22
NASA Readies Astronaut Training for Post-2030 Commercial Stations at Johnson Center
3 articles · Updated · Space.com · Aug 22
Summary
Johnson Space Center is already adapting astronaut training and mission support for commercial low-Earth-orbit stations that NASA wants operating as the ISS nears retirement around 2030.
NASA said it will keep flying ISS crews in the meantime and could extend the station if Congress directs it, while managers said a long-running leak in the Russian segment is under control after Roscosmos agreed to seal off the area.
Building 9 and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory are being used not just for ISS and Artemis work but increasingly for private-sector needs, from emergency drills and mockups to spacesuit and recovery training.
Mission Control remains the template NASA expects future operators to draw from, even as companies choose different setups such as SpaceX's separate control room and Boeing's integration with NASA.
NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations program awarded about $415 million to three teams in 2021, and a new solicitation is expected soon as the agency shifts toward becoming a customer of privately run stations.