It’s no secret that the International Space Station has an expiration date. The only variable is how it will be delivered to Earth. NASA has now enlisted SpaceX for the mission and is paying the company $843 million to return the ISS safely.
SpaceX, a private space venture owned by Elon Musk, will use the money from the NASA contract to build a deorbit vehicle. NASA will then appoint a contractor to send that vehicle into space to dock with the ISS. The final step in the plan is to slowly deorbit the vehicle from the ISS so that it falls back to Earth in an uninhabited area, where it can be safely recovered without harm to anyone.
SpaceX said it is “honored to be trusted by NASA to support this critical mission,” in a post Wednesday on X.
“Selecting a U.S. Deorbit vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition into low Earth orbit at the end of station operations,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement. “The orbital laboratory remains a blueprint for science, exploration and partnerships in space for the benefit of all.”
NASA says a second contract will be awarded in the future to launch the deorbit vehicle into space once it is built. Since SpaceX has quite a bit of experience launching things into space — like satellites to deliver broadband and crewed missions to the ISS — it’s possible the company will get that contract as well.
When will the ISS return to Earth?
The ISS is scheduled to retire in 2030, when it will return to Earth. It will be busy until retirement. NASA plans to transition the space station to commercial operation this decade, so that companies can use it before it retires. (The ultimate goal is for private companies to have facilities in low Earth orbit that don’t have to be maintained by NASA.)
Otherwise, the ISS has lived a full life. Construction missions began in 1998 and the ISS has been continuously manned for the past 22 years.
Why is the ISS being removed from Earth orbit?
According to NASA, the structure’s limited lifespan is due to thermal fluctuations, wear and tear from docking and undocking spacecraft and other factors.
In short, NASA says that after 2030, the ISS simply won’t be safe enough for humans to be there.
How will the space station be brought down?
It’s easier than you might think. According to NASA, the American deorbit vehicle being built by SpaceX will dock with the ISS. From there, the vehicle will use its propulsion system to push the ISS into a lower orbit.
Then the drag of the Earth’s atmosphere will take over and bring the ISS back to Earth. The controlled deorbit procedure will be calculated so that the debris from the ISS falls into the ocean where it cannot harm anyone.
Why does NASA use a deorbit vehicle?
Other possible methods for getting the ISS out of space are either too difficult, too expensive, or both. NASA considered dismantling the ISS and bringing it back piece by piece. However, the agency says the original reassembly took 27 NASA flights and that disassembly could take even longer because the ISS is harder to dismantle than it is to build.
Another option was to boost it to a higher orbit, joining the Great Garbage Shell that already exists in space. NASA says the problem with that approach is that it would take too much fuel to send the massive space station into a “graveyard orbit.” The ISS’s current capabilities could raise its orbit a bit, but it would remain in low-Earth orbit without additional, costly assistance.
The third option that was considered was to simply let it fall out of space on its own. Of course, the problem there is pretty obvious: if the ISS falls out of space on its own, NASA has no way of knowing where it lands. That means it could land in a populated area and harm people.