spacetoday.net: ISS partners agree to expand station crews

Posted: Sat, Jul 24, 2004, 2:55 PM ET (1855 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

Representatives of the five major International Space Station (ISS) partners agreed Friday on a plan that would allow the station to host crews as large as six people by the end of the decade. At meeting in the Netherlands, the ISS partners agreed to a new assembly plan for the station that will, among other things, provide "early opportunities for an enhanced crew of greater than three people." Reports suggested that this would permit a crew of up to six to stay on the station, although Reuters reported the crew could be as small as four; the ISS hosted three-person crews prior to the Columbia accident last year. The expanded crew would also require additional Soyuz spacecraft to serve as lifeboats, which may require NASA to purchase them, something not permitted today by US law. Once the shuttle returns to flight, it will be focused on completing the assembly of the station, with crew rotations to continue to be performed by Soyuz spacecraft. NASA will also look into ways to accelerate the launch of the Kibo and Columbus laboratory modules for Japan and Europe, respectively.