It’s still a while, but NASA is already working on the inevitable end of the International Space Station. According to a plan presented by the US space agency this week, it will crash into a controlled location in the Pacific Ocean in 2031.
In December, the Biden administration decided to keep the ISS operational until the end of the decade, despite reports of minor defects to the colossus, the oldest parts of which have been orbiting the Earth since 1998. For example, in 2020 it was discovered that there air leaked out through cracks in one of the modules, Zvezda. NASA, together with international partners, wants to tackle the technical problems that have recently arisen mainly in the Russian segment.
In the ISS Transition Plan NASA describes how the organization plans to continue using the station this decade.
The intention is that one or more commercial space stations will be developed during that period, where NASA astronauts will also stay in addition to tourists. There is already an agreement for that closed with three companies who have plans for it.
The ISS itself also has a role in that transition. For example, the company Axiom wants to connect its own modules to the ISS in a few years’ time. Later this month, the company will bring its first space tourists to the ISS with a Dragon capsule from SpaceX, the company of Tesla owner Elon Musk.
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