One year ago, with tensions rising between Russia and the West, the Russian space agency made an alarming pronouncement: As early as 2023, it might remove its engine module from the International Space Station (ISS)...and set America's modules adrift.

Now, the good news is that Russia seems to have walked back its threat. It now looks like the ISS will remain in working order through 2025, if not later. And yet the risk remains.

To address this, last year NASA authorized an ambitious project -- actually, three separate projects. For a total cost of $415 million and change, NASA would bankroll commercial low-Earth-orbit (LEO) development projects led by three different corporate teams. The highest-profile of these would team up Blue Origin, Sierra Space, Redwire, and Boeing (NYSE: BA) to build a space station called Orbital Reef beginning in 2027.

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Source Fool.com