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| International Space Station life 'to be extended' | International Space Station life 'to be extended' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Nasa has reportedly won White House backing to extend the life of the International Space Station for four years until 2024. | Nasa has reportedly won White House backing to extend the life of the International Space Station for four years until 2024. |
| Construction of the ISS began in 1998 and is a joint venture between the US, Russia, Canada, Japan, and states in the European Space Agency (Esa). | Construction of the ISS began in 1998 and is a joint venture between the US, Russia, Canada, Japan, and states in the European Space Agency (Esa). |
| These partners will have to support any extension for it to be implemented. | |
| Their current commitments run to 2020, but many engineers believe the station could work safely until 2028. | Their current commitments run to 2020, but many engineers believe the station could work safely until 2028. |
| Bill Gerstenmaier, the associate administrator at Nasa with responsibility for the station, told reporters: "I think the idea is that 10 years from today is a pretty far-reaching, pretty strategic decision. | |
| And he added: "We have talked to the partners about this... They were involved in all the hardware studies. In general, they see this as a positive step moving forward." | |
| Certainly, Germany, Europe's biggest contributor to the ISS project is keen to see the $100bn orbiting platform operate for many years into the future. | |
| Jan Woerner, the chairman of the German space agency (DLR), said: "Germany is eager to use the ISS until 2020 and beyond. Full stop. This is the German position and we hope the other [European] member states will make the commitment and give the money for that." | |
| Prof Woerner was speaking in Washington DC where his national agency and Esa announced technical tie-ups with the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), which is developing a mini-space shuttle to carry astronauts to and from the ISS. | |
| At the moment, the station is solely reliant on Russian Soyuz capsules to rotate the platform's six-person crew. Nasa is therefore seeding commercial American companies, including Sierra Nevada, to help them design and build alternatives. | |
| It's hoped the mini-shuttle, known as the Dream Chaser, will make its maiden voyage into orbit in 2016, in an un-manned, autonomous configuration; and then fly its first manned mission in 2017. | |
| With no crew transport capability of their own, DLR and Esa are keen to explore areas where they could co-operative with SNC on its Dream Chaser programme. |