How will the ISS be destroyed?

The International Space Station (ISS) will be destroyed by billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX corporation when it stops operating in 2030.

The ISS will deorbit over the next 12 to 18 months, drifting out of its normal orbit, 400 kilometers above Earth. SpaceX’s re-entry vehicle will then push the capsule into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will burn up and fall into a watery grave in the South Pacific.

NASA will spend $843 million for SpaceX to develop a ship (not including launch costs) designed to pull American modules on the ISS.

The suborbital craft is based on the company’s Dragon spacecraft design, which has been carrying cargo to the ISS since 2012 and carrying crews to the station since 2020. The hull of the craft will be upgraded and equipped with additional propellant tanks along with engines, avionics, power generation units, etc. to perform complex missions.

Russia will stay on the ISS until at least 2028, while most other co-operating countries have committed to operating it until 2030. NASA officials have stressed that the timing of the ISS's decommissioning depends on when a commercial replacement will be ready.

Currently, a number of companies are building commercial stations, such as Axiom Space, which plans to launch modules to the ISS before separating and flying freely, forming the Axiom station.

Billionaire Musk's SpaceX takes on the job of destroying the ISS

On June 26, 2024, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that a spacecraft belonging to billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX corporation will destroy the International Space Station (ISS) when it stops operating in 2030.

Since 2000, astronauts have lived and conducted scientific experiments on the ISS. The ISS is about the size of a football field and has six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym and 360-degree observation windows.

But the ISS is aging and has tiny leaks. NASA spends $4 billion a year to operate the ISS, so the agency is looking to privately built space stations as a cheaper alternative.

The ISS's operational life could be extended beyond 2030, but this has not been decided and requires agreements with international partner agencies.