> Once the station reaches the end of its life, NASA intends to transition its activities in low-Earth orbit onto private space stations, and it has funded initial development work by Axiom Space, Northrop Grumman, Blue Origin, and Voyager Space.

One publication I read made a couple of relevant points:

NASA should be careful about privatization and subcontracting, as it replaces NASA top-notch engineers with contract managers and oversight. Most engineers aren't interested in that work, and the skills don't stay sharp.

Also, it said that Gateway, the space station planned to orbit the Moon, is considered the conceptual descendent of ISS.

Much more here: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/cart/download.cgi?record_i...

IMHO NASA should focus on the cutting edge, pushing the frontiers of space and technology. I'm glad they stopped bothering with orbital launch, which they've done for over 60 years - many countries and many private companies can do that now. I'm not sure where ISS falls - LEO is obviously relatively common technology, but habitation in orbit? Space stations orbiting the Moon are the kind of thing where NASA should aim.