Address Future Spacecraft Needs Following Shuttle Retirement

The heads of the International Space Station (ISS) agencies from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States met at European Space Agency (ESA) Headquarters in Paris on Thursday, to review their cooperation agreements on the massive orbital structure.

As part of their discussions, they noted the significantly expanded capability that the ISS now provides for on-orbit research and technology development activities and as an engineering test bed for flight systems and operations that are critical to future space exploration initiatives. These activities improve the quality of life on Earth by expanding the frontiers of human knowledge.

The Heads of Agency also noted significant accomplishments since their last meeting in January 2007, including the delivery of Node 2 (Harmony), two new laboratories (the ESA Columbus Module and the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo), and Dextre, Canada's two-armed special purpose dexterous manipulator. In addition to the completion of six challenging ISS assembly missions with the US Space Shuttle, the Heads of Agency recognized the maiden flight of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, the establishment of the global ISS ground operation control center network with the addition of new European and Japanese ISS operations centers and the successful flights of Russian Soyuz and Progress vehicles. The Partners emphasized the critical importance of expanded operations of Russian Soyuz and Progress vehicles for ISS total crew transportation, rescue and cargo delivery.

The Heads of Agency also reviewed current ISS development, configuration and operations activities across the partnership. They considered implementing plans to maximize the benefits from the increase to a six-person crew in 2009 and discussed efforts to ensure that essential space transportation capabilities (both crew and cargo) will be available across the partnership for the life of the program. The Partners acknowledged the need for the additional Russian modules to be provided in 2009 and 2010 that will maximize six-person ISS operations and utilization.

The five agencies also discussed their respective ongoing activities to enhance upmass and downmass transportation capabilities required for a robust utilization of the ISS and for preparing capabilities for the future, in the face of the looming retirement of the shuttle in 2010. These include Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle in the next year, the US Commercial Orbital Transportation Services and the US Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle; current operational vehicles include the shuttle, Russia's Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle.

These capabilities will respond to the ISS operations and utilization requirements. They also noted new initiatives such as the ESA plan for an Automated Transfer Vehicle-Advanced Return Vehicle system for downmass from the ISS and the Russia-ESA joint preparatory activities on an advanced Crew Space Transportation System. The Heads of Agency expressed their interest in making these capacities available for the benefit of the whole partnership and can provide sustainability of the ISS and prepare for future exploration endeavors.

As the partnership moves closer to completion of ISS assembly, the Heads of Agency reaffirmed their common interest in utilizing the space station to its full capacity for a period meaningful for stakeholders and users. The Partners noted that a continuation of operations beyond 2015 would not be precluded by any significant technical challenges. Recognizing the substantial programmatic benefits to continued ISS operations and utilization beyond the current planning horizon, the Heads of Agency committed to work with their respective governments to assess support for such a goal.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/station