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<\/p>\nLast Sunday (October 6th) the annual ESA-ESTEC open house day was held on the grounds of Europe\u2019s largest Space facility, ESTEC in the Netherlands. This open day is part of world space week \u2013 and the week of science. This year\u2019s theme of the open day was \u201cEurope to the Moon\u201d. Among the special guests was ESA Director General Johann-Dietrich W\u00f6rner.<\/p>\n
Mr. W\u00f6rner, who has led ESA since July 1, 2015, took time out of his busy schedule to talk to NasaSpaceFlight.com.<\/p>\n
Question: What are the Space Station plans for and after 2024, pending the potential redirection of support from the Americans?<\/p>\n
Johan W\u00f6rner: No that is a bit simplified. The Americans say they will hand it over, more or less, to commercial companies \u2013 which does not mean they are not financing it.<\/p>\n
If you look at the private activities right now with SpaceX and others, they are financed by public money, but it is a commercial activity. This is how I understand the Americans, concerning the Space Station, that they would like to hand over more activities to commercial partners, but they will still be financing it.<\/p>\n
Q: Will ESA also continue with ISS after 2024?<\/p>\n
Johan W\u00f6rner: This will not be decided today and not at the upcoming ministerial (council meeting), but I believe if the Station is there, we will use it because it is a great opportunity to do microgravity research with astronauts and therefore I believe we will continue to stay in. It was the original plan to stop (using) the Station. The Americans said they will use it further on, the Russians say even (as far as) 2030. So, therefore, we would have to have a discussion with our European ministers (about) what we will do, but so far, I believe we will go on.<\/p>\n
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Jan W\u00f6rner welcoming media to the ESTEC open house day, October 6th \u2013 Photo by Jacques van Oene<\/p>\n
But it is interesting to know that the use of the Station is not a decision of ESA, it is an intergovernmental agreement and therefore the governments have to decide, and the governments who signed the IGA of the ISS. So, it\u2019s not ESA as such, it is as national countries, the USA, Canada, Russia, Japan and several European member states \u2013 those are part of ESA. They ask us (ESA) to do the work for them, per the yearly use of the Station.<\/p>\n
Q: Corporation with China, is it a possibility that ESA astronauts will go to the Chinese space station in the future?<\/p>\n
Aerospace & Defense (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n Johan W\u00f6rner: I was always fighting (for the argument) that there should not be several stations. Yes, in the movie Gravity it was helpful, (but) I was always saying let\u2019s have one station globally together. This was not acceptable for some of the partners, so there was a Chinese space station. We\u2019ve had some discussions with our Chinese colleagues, some training of European astronauts together with the Chinese, but there is no decision so far.<\/p>\n Q: This decision won\u2019t be in the upcoming ministerial meeting?<\/p>\n Johan W\u00f6rner: No. Well maybe discussed, but not a concrete proposal. Personally, I believe it is good that space is breaching Earthly crises, and therefore we should cooperate on a global scale with each and every country we can. Not to cooperate is not the right way. So, therefore, ESA tries to cooperate with as many states worldwide as possible.<\/p>\n Q: ESA astronaut flight status, I believe Thomas Pesquet is next up, and also Matthias Maurer is close to an assignment?<\/p>\n Johan W\u00f6rner: There is a principal and general decision \u2013 and that was that all astronauts of the 2009 class should fly, if possible, twice.<\/p>\n So, we have Alexander Gerst (twice). Luca Parmitano (twice), so we are looking for the others to also fly for a second time. And also, we had a further astronaut selection out of the 2009 class that was Matthias Maurer. The next planned flight after Luca is Thomas. And then at this point, we don\u2019t know right now, we will propose Matthias Maurer. But this means proposed, it is not a decision of ESA but also NASA.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nSee Also<\/h4>\n
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