NASA says it does not keep track of contributions from the other 15 partners . -RRB- NASA 's funding of the space station is currently scheduled to end in 2016 . `` The general idea that we would spend approximately 11 years building the space station , get it to its full operational capability , and then kind of abandon it a few years later ... does n't make a lot of sense , '' said Robert Braun , a former NASA chief engineer . Braun currently is the director of Georgia Tech 's Space Systems Design Laboratory . An independent committee reviewing the future of U.S. human spaceflight recently recommended to the White House that the station 's life be extended to 2020 . Watch more on the future of the space station '' `` You 've got all of these different countries working together on this common project in space . And if we go ahead and stop ... it 's going to break up that framework , '' said Leroy Chiao , a former space station commander and shuttle astronaut who sits on the advisory panel . `` The different countries around the world will lose confidence
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- It 's the most complex construction project in history . NASA 's funding of the international space station is scheduled to end in 2016 . Flying 250 miles overhead , the international space station can be seen with the naked eye , orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes , usually carrying a crew of six . Now , before construction of the station is even complete , there is already talk of when the lights will be turned off . NASA is waiting for the Obama administration to decide how much longer the station will fly and exactly which direction the U.S. space agency will take next -- a return to the moon , or maybe a trip to Mars ? The initial phase of the international space station was launched in 1998 , although the station is still being expanded . The U.S. is one of 16 countries that help build and operate the station , whose laboratory runs a number of science experiments , including measuring the effects of space conditions , such as weightlessness , on humans . The U.S. contribution to the space station so far : $ 44 billion . -LRB-