June 26 News Items

NASA Details Plan to Open ISS for Outside Use (Source: Space.com)
NASA is pressing ahead with plans to use part of the International Space Station (ISS) as a national laboratory, a move that would reserve about half of the outpost's U.S. science facilities for outside use by 2011. The plan hinges on the completion of the half-built $100 billion space station by September 2010. "What we're trying to do is open up the U.S. segment of the space station to be utilized by a variety of folks, both governmental and maybe commercial, in the future so that we can take the maximum advantage of the space station," said a NASA official.

"Previously, we had anticipated that all the research conducted on the station would be research within NASA's mission portfolio," said Mark Uhran, the space agency's associate administrator for the ISS. "Now what we're looking to do is make the facility available to other government agencies or private firms to pursue their own research interests." The level of interest among non-NASA agencies to use the ISS could ultimately decide how long the space station remains in operation beyond its current 2016 design lifetime.

NASA: Researchers Can Use Space Station for Free, If They Can Get There (Source: Boston Globe)
Part of the international space station may host research experiments from outsiders after it's completed in three years, according to NASA officials. The agency is talking with several government agencies and private businesses that want to conduct research at the station. There will be no fees for using the station, but researchers will have to find their own way there, as the space shuttles will be grounded after 2010.