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Behind the scenes, NASA and its international partners are putting the finishing touches on humanity's new home in space. This future science station, which will effectively replace the International Space Station when it reaches retirement age in the 2020s, will be a fraction of the size but carry astronauts hundreds of thousands of miles farther into space. In fact, it might travel farther away from our planet than any other human-piloted spacecraft, including the Apollo missions.

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But the most exciting idea behind this new station, destined to make its home orbiting near the moon (aka a cis-lunar orbit), is it will provide a new foothold for future human missions to Earth's closest celestial neighbors, like asteroids, the moon itself, and Mars. Because the station is in an egg-shaped orbit, stretching anywhere from 1,500 km to 70,000 km (930 to 44,000 miles) from the Moon, it would need only a little push to be sent flying to a yet-to-be-chosen destination.

NASA

NASA engineers and their colleagues from four other space agencies have been working on the design of the station for a few years. But without a green light from their political bosses, they had to keep any blueprints a secret. Popular Mechanics spoke with NASA sources and got a small peek at what's coming.

If everything goes as planned, the first mission will launch in 2023 and position a robotic spacecraft called the Power and Propulsion Bus (PPB) in a stretched orbit around the Moon. Then, in the next two years, a pair of barrel-shaped modulesfour-and-a-half meters wide and five meters long, and both weighing under 10 tons eachwill be delivered to the same orbit and bolted to the PPB.

Together, they'll house four astronauts up to 90 days at a time. In addition, a Russian-built airlock module will be added to the station in mid-2020s to make it much easier for the crew to walk outside of its space home.

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On the outside, both modules will be plastered with radiators doubling as micrometeoroid armor, with four docking ports to connect to each other and to receive visiting spacecraft. Fortunately, cis-lunar space is practically pristine compared to all the space junk in Earth orbit, allowing designers to consider thinner walls.

On the inside, everything will be meticulously designed to save mass and maximize room. The dining table will fold after each meal and the sleeping compartments might inflate and deflate as needed. The fridge will have to multitask as a kitchen appliance and scientific sample storage. Huge efforts will be made to recycle and reuse every drop of water, oxygen, and other consumable resources onboard.

The biggest challenge for the engineers designing the cis-lunar station is dealing with trash. Because space is limited and ejecting garbage wastes precious oxygen, engineers will need to compact trash as much as possible. Eventually, accumulated trash will be loaded into the cargo ship after its unloading.

Meanwhile, the means of getting to the space station itself is still up for debate. Each crew shift on the cis-lunar outpost will be accompanied by a dedicated supply ship, but NASA hasn't decided on the mode of transportation or its provider, whether public or private.

International Space Station

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The ultimate goal for this new ambitious project will be a deep-space expedition lasting more than a year, a dress rehearsal of sorts for a future mission to Mars. To make that possible, NASA will need to add a brand-new 20-ton spacecraft with better propulsion and bigger crew quarters in the second half of the 2020s.

In addition, the cis-lunar base might serve as a parking hub for the robotic (and later human) landers returning from the surface of the Moon. Along with NASA's new Orion spacecraft, the Russian next-generation spacecraft that's now in development might drop by for a visit as well. NASA sources also hint that the station will be able to accommodate an extra module, in case a "new partner" decides to come onboard most likely referring to China.

In any case, sometime in the second half of the 2020s the ISS will likely finish its 30-year tenure. A colossal splashdown in the remote part of the ocean will close a chapter in the history of human space flight but free up budgets for new horizons. By then, NASA and its partners hope to have a new outpost in the lunar orbit along with good ideas where to fly it next.

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Here Is NASA's Plan for a Space Station That Orbits the Moon - Popular Mechanics

Spacewalking astronauts lost an important piece of cloth shielding needed for the International Space Station on Thursday when it floated away.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson immediately reported the mishap to Mission Control, which tracked the bundle as it drifted off. NASA said it would be monitored to make sure it doesn't come back and hit the station.

The shielding protects against micrometeorite debris. It was one of four pieces that Whitson and Shane Kimbrough were installing over the spot left by a relocated docking port. NASA spokesman Dan Huot said the three remaining shields were installed to cover the most vulnerable spots.

It was a disappointing turn of events in a record-setting spacewalk for Whitson, the world's oldest and most experienced spacewoman. It was the eighth spacewalk of her career, the most performed by a woman. There was frustration in her voice as she informed Mission Control.

Huot said it was not immediately clear who let the shield go or how it got away; it's supposed to be tethered to the station or spacewalker at all times.

Spacewalkers have lost objects before, but usually the items are small, like bolts. In 2008, an astronaut lost her entire tool kit during a spacewalk.

Each fabric shield weighs 18 pounds. When unfolded, it is about 2 inches thick and measures about 5 feet by 2 feet, according to NASA. The entire 250-mile-high space station is protected, in some fashion, against possible debris strikes.

The docking port was disconnected during a spacewalk last Friday by Kimbrough, the space station's commander and a six-time spacewalker. Then flight controllers in Houston moved it to a new and better location Sunday. It will serve as one of two parking spots for commercial crew capsules under development by SpaceX and Boeing.

The spacewalkers hooked up vital heater cables to the docking port and removed a cover from the top. Then they turned to the shields, and that's when one of the folded coverings got away. Mission Control instructed the astronauts to retrieve the cloth cover just removed from the docking port, and try to fashion it over the gaping hole left by the lost shield.

Midway through Thursday's spacewalk, Whitson was set to surpass the current record for women of 50 hours and 40 minutes of total accumulated spacewalking time, held by former space station resident Sunita Williams. Williams is one of four NASA astronauts who will make the initial test flights of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner capsules. The first flight could occur as early as next year.

A Russian holds the all-time spacewalking record: Anatoly Solovyev with 16.

The 57-year-old Whitson has been in orbit since November. This is her third space station stint. Altogether, she's spent more than 500 days off the planet, also more than any woman.

She's scheduled to return to Earth in June but may stick around an extra three months, until September. NASA is hoping to take advantage of an extra seat in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that's due to launch next month and return in September. A decision is expected soon.

NASA, meanwhile, has indefinitely delayed a spacewalk that had been scheduled for next week. A shipment with replacement parts needed for that spacewalk is on hold because of rocket concerns at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Shipper Orbital ATK is relying on the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V to haul up the goods.

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Spacewalking astronauts lose a piece of shield needed for International Space Station - Los Angeles Times

Astronauts Ricky Arnold (left) and Joe Acaba (right) aboard the space shuttle Discovery in March 2009. Credit: NASA

NASA has announced that veteran astronauts Joe Acaba and Ricky Arnold will launch on nearly six-month expeditions aboard the International Space Station starting in September and in March 2018, filling seats aboard Russian Soyuz spaceships recently acquired in a commercial arrangement with Boeing.

Acaba is set to launch first, riding to the space station inside the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in September with Russian commander Alexander Misurkin and NASA flight engineer Mark Vande Hei. That trio will be part of the stations Expedition 53 and 54 crews, returning to Earth next February.

The mission will be Acabas third spaceflight since his selection as a NASA astronaut in 2004. The California native first flew in space aboard the shuttle Discovery on the STS-119 mission in March 2009, then spent four months in orbit on the International Space Station in 2012. Acaba has logged nearly 138 days in space on his two previous flights.

It will be Vande Heis first space mission, and the second for Misurkin.

Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, NASA astronaut Scott Tingle and Japanese flight engineer Norishige Kanai are set to launch on the next Soyuz flight no sooner than late December. Those crew members were already assigned to the mission.

Astronaut Ricky Arnold will join NASAs Drew Feustel and a Russian cosmonaut on a Soyuz launch in March 2018 as part of the stations Expedition 55 and 56 crews. Born in Maryland, Arnold previously flew in space as a crewmate of Acaba on Discoverys STS-119 mission, accumulating nearly 13 days in space.

Feustel, who was already training for his space station expedition, is a veteran of two space shuttle missions the shuttle Atlantis servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 and the final flight of the shuttle Endeavour in 2011. Next years mission will be the first long-duration spaceflight for Arnold and Feustel.

Acaba and Arnold will fill seats that were planned to be empty. Russia has reduced the size of its crew complement on the space station until a new research lab is launched to the complex next year to cut down on costs, training and staffing requirements.

Using Boeing as an intermediary, the U.S. space agency opted to take advantage of empty Soyuz seats on two flights scheduled for launch from Kazakhstan in September and in March 2018.

Boeing received rights to the Soyuz seats from RSC Energia, prime contractor for Russias human spaceflight program, in a settlement reached last year to end three years of litigation stemming from payments related to the companies former partnership in the Sea Launch program.

NASA said astronaut Shannon Walker, veteran of a five-month stay on the space station in 2010, will train as a dedicated backup for Acaba.

Rookie astronauts Nick Hague and Serena Aun-Chancellor have also been assigned to space station missions, NASA said.

Hague, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force and a native of Kansas, will launch in September 2018 on a Soyuz ferry craft with two Russian cosmonauts for about a half-year rotation aboard the outpost. Aun-Chancellor, a flight surgeon from Fort Collins, Colorado, will launch on a Soyuz booster in November 2018 with Canadian flight engineer David Saint-Jacques and a Russian cosmonaut.

Aun-Chancellor is a member of NASAs 2009 astronaut class, and Hague was selected as an astronaut in 2013.

NASA has reserved options to fly three more of its astronauts to the space station on Soyuz spaceships in early 2019 if U.S. commercial crew spacecraft in development by Boeing and SpaceX are not ready in time.

Once the CST-100 Starliner and Crew Dragon commercial spaceships are declared operational, the space agency plans to fly most of its astronauts on U.S. vehicles, while continuing to launch at least one U.S. crew member on each Soyuz mission. Russia plans to have at least one of its cosmonauts on each CST-100 and Crew Dragon capsule in an in-kind arrangement that does not involve any exchange of funds.

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NASA assigns astronauts to future space station missions - Spaceflight Now