Companies developing Commercial LEO Destinations (CLDs) to replace the International Space Station told a House subcommittee on March 25, 2026, that they want NASA to "stick with the plan" and not make changes that are "sowing confusion" in the industry.
The Conflict
During NASA's all-day Ignition briefing on March 24, the agency proposed a new path to establishing CLDs in low Earth orbit. Although the briefing focused on the Artemis program and building a Moon base, the future of ISS and U.S. presence in LEO was also addressed.
NASA officials said they don't see the commercial orbital economy materializing any time soon. Instead of following the path they've been on since the Phase 1 CLD awards in 2021, they proposed a significant change and issued two Requests for Information (RFIs).
Industry Response
Dave Cavossa, President of the Commercial Space Federation (CSF), which represents seven companies working on CLDs, testified:
"Given the delays and possible shifts in strategy, industry has been left to continue spending resources to develop private space stations without a full understanding of what NASA will require from a private station, how the agency will structure the rest of the procurement and program, and when industry may see a return on investment. This uncertainty challenges the public-private partnership business model and puts the agency at risk of deorbiting ISS before private stations are operational."
Cavossa noted that "industry has raised over a billion dollars in private capital" in the last six months and "several billions of dollars over the last several years." Some member companies have already sold out available rack space on their space stations. He called NASA's rationales "flawed" and the repeated changes "sowing confusion" reminiscent of Lucy and the Football.
NASA's Counterproposal
NASA Acting Associate Administrator for Space Operations Joel Montalbano, a former ISS program manager, explained the new proposal: NASA would procure a new "core" module for the ISS with two docking ports of its own. CLDs would dock their systems to this new module, integrated into the ISS, which would supply life support and other critical elements until commercial systems are ready to separate and become free-flyers.
Congressional Concerns
Rep. George Whitesides (D-CA), a former NASA chief of staff and former CEO of Virgin Galactic, sparred with Montalbano:
"My experience with new pieces of the ISS is that it takes 10 years to build. I don't get how, where, we're going to get this new thing. And doesn't that timeframe go beyond the lifetime of the ISS?... I just don't see how it's fiscally possible for NASA to afford the development and launch of a custom-built government core module, while maintaining ISS, while claiming at the same time it can't afford to be a customer on a commercial station that is being privately financed."
Timeline
NASA and its international partners — Russia, Europe, Canada, and Japan — are planning to deorbit the ISS in 2030, although the Senate Commerce Committee approved a new NASA authorization bill that would extend it another two years.
Source
- SpacePolicyOnline: CLD Companies Want Stability, Not a New Plan