Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
NASA confirms the International Space Station (ISS) will deorbit by 2030, signaling the end of a decades-long chapter of scientific innovation and global collaboration in low Earth orbit.
Launched in 1998, the ISS has exceeded expectations but faces wear and tear, leaving it with just a few years of operational life, according to NASA.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX won an $843 million NASA contract to design the spacecraft responsible for deorbiting the ISS safely back to Earth.
The deorbit process will span 18 months, as the ISS is gradually lowered toward Earth’s atmosphere, where most of it will burn up.
SpaceX will use an enhanced Dragon spacecraft with upgraded thrusters and extra fuel to push the ISS into its final trajectory, ensuring a controlled descent.
As the ISS reenters Earth’s atmosphere, smaller parts will incinerate, while larger modules will plunge into a predetermined remote oceanic crash zone.
The ISS, a joint project by NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, and CSA, remains a symbol of unprecedented international cooperation in space exploration.
NASA emphasizes that the ISS set the standard for space research, serving as a hub for microgravity experiments and a foundation for future commercial space stations.
With the ISS retiring, NASA shifts its focus toward commercial space destinations, advancing human spaceflight and scientific exploration closer to Earth.
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