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Nature: Because of weakening US–Russia relations in the wake of Russia’s recent intervention in Ukraine, the fate of the International Space Station (ISS) is uncertain. Since the US ceased its space shuttle program in 2011, it has depended on Russian rockets to shuttle its astronauts back and forth. Although the US would like to extend the ISS’s operations four more years until 2024, Russia has indicated it will pull out in 2020, at the program’s scheduled end date. As a result, NASA is pushing to get as many research projects as possible onto the ISS in the time remaining. Next week researchers from across the country will have a chance to propose their projects at the 3rd Annual ISS Research and Development Conference taking place in Chicago.
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NASA races to propose Space Station research projects Free
11 June 2014