NASA Needs a New Spacecraft to Help the Space Station Meet Its Fiery End, Safely

The International Space Station launched in 1998 and since then it has served as an important research facility for multiple nations. The old ISS still has some good years left but space agencies are already planning for its demise.

The ISS is scheduled to be deorbited beginning in 2030. Considering it weighs nearly 1 million pounds, it’s a heavy task. As New Atlas points out, the ISS can’t simply be pushed to a higher orbit because it would take too much energy to do so and the process would likely cause the ISS to break apart. It’s also too large and complex to easily disassemble while still in orbit.