US prepares to deorbit International Space Station amid China competition

Nearly a decade later, China expressed interest in joining those on board the space station. The European Space Agency signaled support for the addition, along with South Korea. The final decision was ultimately opposed by the United States. 

In 2011, Congress included in a spending bill direction to prohibit collaboration between NASA and China when it comes to some scientific research, including in space. Lawmakers argued China's program was secretive and too closely tied to its military.

"I think there's no question they're an economic competitor and they're also a competitor for leadership geopolitically," Melroy said. 

Voyager is one of three companies contracted by NASA that is working to develop a new space station. Voyager says it is on pace to launch its Starlab in 2028. There are some fears that NASA will face funding cuts. If there are delays for the companies designing the next space stations, NASA will deorbit the space station without a replacement ready to go. 

Melroy insists the agency will not let China be the sole operator of a space station in orbit, but the storyline resonates with that of the space shuttle program. 

"The Crew Exploration Vehicle will be capable of ferrying astronauts and scientists to the space station after the shuttle is retired," Bush said in 2004. 

"Pursuing this new strategy will require that we revise the old strategy. In part, this is because the old strategy, including the Constellation program, was not fulfilling its promise in many ways," then-President Barack Obama said in April 2010. 

The administration instead directed more than $6 billion to support commercial companies building spacecraft. The shuttle program came to an end a year later. American-made rockets were still not yet available. The U.S. was forced to rely on Russia for continued space travel. 

"It was tough times. I think it was the right decision. The shuttle's time had come to an end. We needed to make a strategic investment in our own industry to develop the capability to take humans to space," Melroy said. "There were a lot of people who thought we'd canceled the space program."

As NASA faces the same prospect once again, officials insist they have a different strategy for competition in space with China. 

"I think it's different in the sense that we are still the leader. We intend to remain the leader. We intend to remain the partner of choice. We work very well with our international partners, and they want to continue to work with us," Melroy said. 

Only Chinese Taikonauts have visited the Tiangong Space Station. The country has expressed openness to hosting astronauts from other countries. Beijing has increased cooperation with Sweden, Russia and Italy. In recent months, China's first International Payload launched on a Chinese commercial rocket. It included Oman's first satellite, which is equipped with artificial intelligence for urban planning, forestry monitoring and disaster management. 

"We do have to be somewhat careful about technology transfer and how do we actually connect with international firms to make sure that we're not sort of giving away things associated with it," Arkisys CEO Dave Barnhart said. 

California-based Arkisys is working on a robotic servicing port for companies to use while in orbit. 

"We can provide either the cargo, the supplies, the robotic manipulation capability, the fuel, whatever's required to support a servicing architecture," Barnhart said. 

"We actually hope that we will be a bridge between when the [space station] is decommissioned and when the new commercial space stations are up there," Barnhart said. "We are autonomous, we can move much faster. We can allow different orbital transfer vehicles to come in, to bring cargo, to bring fuel, to bring new payloads."