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5d ago

Senate Panel to Weigh Extending ISS to 2032 and Requiring a NASA Moon Base

Backers say the plan would prevent a low-Earth orbit gap for U.S. crews.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off on NASA's Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station, carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius

Overview

  • The Senate Commerce Committee set a March 4 markup to consider amending a NASA authorization bill to extend the ISS and mandate a lunar surface base under Artemis.
  • Committee leaders Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell support the measures, framing them as a response to China’s growing space activities including Tiangong and a planned crewed moon landing.
  • NASA had planned to retire the ISS in 2030, and the proposal would move the target to 2032 to allow more time for commercial station readiness.
  • NASA is funding early concepts for commercial replacements from companies such as Blue Origin and Voyager, and it selected SpaceX last year to build a spacecraft to deorbit the ISS safely.
  • The moon-base requirement pushes Artemis toward sustained surface operations, with SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon progressing as NASA encourages competition.