MILAN — NASA is rethinking its desire for a “continuous human presence” in low Earth orbit during the transition from the International Space Station to commercial platforms to include options where, at least temporarily, the agency may not always have astronauts in orbit.

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Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...