It also sidesteps the partners operating the ISS; NASA isn't the only one (albeit possibly the largest one) on the station. > If nothing else, the ISS would be

It also sidesteps the partners operating the ISS; NASA isn't the only one (albeit possibly the largest one) on the station. > If nothing else, the ISS would be useful for "worker housing" during such assembly projects. Interestingly Russia plans to take some of their part from the ISS to build another space station (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Piloted_Assembly_and_Experiment_Complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Piloted_Assembly_and_E...) that will exactly have this role of an intermediary "gas station" between earth and space exploration