ISS Marks 25 Years; NASA Plans Retirement by 2030

The International Space Station is celebrating 25 years of continuous human presence, having hosted roughly 280 people from 23 countries since its initial modules launched in 1998–2000. NASA intends to retire the ISS around 2030 and is soliciting commercial replacements as private firms race to build new orbital platforms. SpaceX’s Bandwagon-4 launch deployed 18 satellites, including Vast Space’s Haven Demo, testing technologies for the planned private station Haven‑1. Scientific research aboard the ISS continues to address astronaut health for longer missions, including Canadian-led studies by Dr. Guy Trudel on spleen changes and red-blood-cell destruction linked to “space anemia.” More than 200 scientists across 25 countries are running the world’s largest synchronized Earth-based analogue simulations to improve training and mission design for future exploration. Separately, Los Angeles’s California Science Center is nearing completion of the $425 million Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, a 20‑story building set to permanently house Endeavour and slated to open in late summer 2025 after a vertical “Go for Stack” assembly.