Paris (France) (AFP) – The scheduled end of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2030 also marks a quarter of a century of cooperation between countries in space, a sector that has become more crucial than ever.
First modification: 02/08/2026 - 08:13 Last modification: 02/08/2026 - 15:48
"It is a very interesting moment in the evolution of exploration," says Lionel Suchet, deputy director general of the French National Center for Space Studies (CNES), in statements to AFP.
"The history of manned flights is, above all, the space race. The Russians focused on long-duration flights, with stations. The Americans, on short-duration flights, with the Moon. They were two separate paths and a logic of competition," explains this engineer who coordinated numerous projects during the first years of the ISS, shortly after having seen how the Mir station, the Russian predecessor of the ISS, was deorbited in 2001.
"One of the positive points of the ISS is that we built a cooperation program, the only one that still exists today," he points out.
- "Cathedral" -
"The ISS is a cathedral dedicated to human cooperation and collaboration across borders, languages and cultures," said John Horack, former director of NASA's science and mission systems division.
"For more than 25 years, we have had people in space 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This shows that we can find solutions instead of fighting when we want to interact with each other," insists Horack, holder of the Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace Policy at The Ohio State University.
But logically the material has deteriorated over time.
NASA announced in 2024 that it had chosen Elon Musk's SpaceX to build a module capable of propelling the ISS - about the size of a football field - into the Earth's atmosphere, which will allow it to be destroyed after it is removed in 2030.
"This module will reduce the speed of the ISS and allow precise entry over the Pacific Ocean, far from land, populations and any other potential danger. Several large space devices, including Mir and the Gamma Ray Observatory, were deorbited in this way, although the ISS is much larger than those last two," explains Horack.
Privatization of space
After 2030, China will be the only country that has such infrastructure in low orbit, with its Tiangong station.
The United States is betting on private space stations, which could host both NASA astronauts and other clients.
"We are entering an era in which space stations - like shuttles, satellites - will have a much more commercial dimension," estimates Horack.
"They will be built and operated by private companies, often companies that collaborate on a global scale, whose clients will be national space agencies, space programs...", he adds.
Several American companies are already working on these projects, including Axiom Space and Blue Origin. This is also the case of European companies.
But "the business model will be largely institutional because we know that countries are always interested in sending astronauts into low orbit," Suchet clarifies.
"An era ends," Horack says. "We must grow as human beings in our ability to travel through space and in the use of space to improve the social, economic, educational and quality of life of everyone, everywhere in the world," he concludes by quoting former European Space Agency director Jean-Jacques Dordain: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, let's go together."
© 2026 AFP
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