FOR the first time since the International Space Station (ISS) began continuous human occupation more than two decades ago, a resident crew will return to Earth earlier than planned because of a medical concern.

The early departure of Crew-11, leaving Williams as the only US astronaut aboard, also means NASA will be unable to perform spacewalks. This will mean a “slightly elevated risk” in NASA’s ability to respond to a major hardware failure that might require a spacewalk to fix, said Amit Kshatriya, the agency’s associate administrator.

Could the International Space Station’s orbit of the future hang on a cargo ship’s trunk? For the first time in 26 years, the ISS will depend on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft for reboost maneuvers an engineering milestone that transfers a task ...

The ISS is not scheduled to be brought back to Earth until 2030 - Stocktrek Images Elon Musk has called for the International Space Station (ISS) to be de-orbited “within two years” amid concerns about the ageing facility’s safety. The billionaire ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science ...

Marshall Smith, who spent 37 years at NASA before moving to Starlab, told Sky News space stations were "critical" for research in microgravity. "Life support systems, they don’t work on the ground [like how] they work in space and microgravity," he said.

For nearly three decades, the International Space Station has been the only destination in low Earth orbit, but that will change this year. Could it be the start of a thriving economy in space?