15 years of the ISS: What's next for manned space stations?
The International Space Station (ISS) marks its 15th year in space today.
It鈥檚 come a long way since its earliest days, when there was no Internet and very little proper ventilation onboard. also forced the early space station to be much smaller than its planners intended.
Over the years, one of the space station鈥檚 functions has been to allow international cooperation. After NASA mothballed the Space Shuttle program, which for years ferried astronauts to and from the ISS, Russia stepped in, using Soyuz spacecraft to provide trips for American astronauts.
The ISS "is the blueprint for global cooperation," . "One that enables a multinational partnership and advances shared goals in space exploration."
. 鈥� The Earth will be a much better place,鈥� he told The Associated Press, if nations learn to practice the same philosophy of harmony and cooperation that exists on the space station. 聽聽
, but it is still unclear where mission support will come from after that point.
Eventually, other countries could assemble their own manned space stations, including Russia, NASA's closest partner on the ISS.聽Russian President Vladimir Putin has聽 regarding the country's intent to build a Russian space station after funding for the International Space Station ends. 聽 聽
India and China are also starting to catch up as well. Last year, India , and this September the nation聽.
Meanwhile, China 鈥� which had been barred from participating on the International Space Station since 2011, 鈥� has been working on building its own space station. Tiangong-1 鈥� the name means 鈥渉eavenly palace鈥� in Chinese 鈥� , and has remained in orbit since. 聽聽聽聽聽
But Bill Shepherd, the commander of the first expedition to the International Space Station, told SPACE.com that he remains optimistic about its future.
"What does [the] Space Station mean in the context of the next century, the next millennium? I think it is very exciting to wonder just how far this will go,鈥� Shepherd said. 鈥淚 think it is a good road map for bigger things in the future.鈥�
