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NASA announced that it has selected SpaceX to develop a spacecraft to safely bring the International Space Station (ISS) back to Earth when it is retired in 2030. SpaceX was awarded a contract valued at up to $843 million to create the US Deorbit Vehicle, which will guide the ISS through the atmosphere to its final resting place in the Pacific Ocean. Ken Bowersox from NASA emphasized that selecting a US Deorbit Vehicle is crucial for ensuring a safe and responsible transition in low Earth orbit once ISS operations conclude.
- NASA will take ownership of the spacecraft after its completion by SpaceX and will manage its operations throughout the mission. The ISS, weighing 430,000 kilograms (950,000 pounds), is the largest single structure ever built in space, and its deorbit will be a significant engineering challenge. As the ISS re-enters the atmosphere, NASA engineers anticipate it will break up in three stages, based on past experiences with other stations like Mir and Skylab. First, the solar arrays and radiators will detach, followed by the individual modules separating from the truss. The truss and modules will then break apart, with much of the material vaporizing. Larger pieces, however, are expected to survive, prompting NASA to target Point Nemo, a remote area in the Pacific Ocean known as the graveyard of satellites. The ISS has been continuously inhabited since 2001, and while most partners have committed to its operation through 2030, Russia has only committed until 2028.
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NASA is also preparing for commercial successors to the ISS, including projects by Axiom Space and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
