From about 24 years Humanity has been living continuously in space. Ever since astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev boarded the International Space Station (ISS) on Halloween 2000, the ISS has been home to astronauts and cosmonauts. However, all good things must come to an end, and now NASA is planning the end of humanity’s orbiting laboratory.
The end of the International Space Station
The US space agency announced that it had selected SpaceX to develop and build the deorbiting vehicle that will be used to deorbit the Space Station at the end of its operational life and safely return it to Earth.
“Selecting a U.S. deorbiting vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition to low orbit at the end of station operations,” said Ken Bowersoxassociate administrator for Space Operations Mission Directorate della NASA. “This decision also supports NASA’s plans for future commercial destinations and enables the continued use of near-Earth space“.
The first pieces of the ISS were launched in 1998, and when operations end in 2030, they will have exceeded their planned lifespan by 2 years. It is this very structure, which forms the backbone of the Space Station, that prevents the ISS from continuing beyond 2030.
“Most of the Space Station can be repaired or replaced in orbit, while other parts can be brought back to Earth for repair and relaunched. These parts include solar panels, communications equipment, life support equipment and scientific hardware,” explains NASA. “However, the main structure of the Station, such as habitable modules and truss structures, cannot be practically repaired or replaced“.
As spacecraft dock and undock from the ISS, and the Space Station moves in and out of sunlight, these operations put stress on those structures. “These forces were factored into the original 30-year structural life estimate, and while NASA flight experience indicates that the actual forces exerted on the Station were less than expected, there is still a finite lifespan for the main structure,” NASA continued.
The end of an extraordinary project
Even though the Space Station worked incredibly bene over the course of his life, as time went by, some things began to happen losses. NASA is now planning the fine of a extraordinary projectwhich saw the collaboration of 5 space agencies to operate a laboratory that whizzes above our heads at around 28 thousand km/h.
Although it will be SpaceX to manage the project, with a potential value of 843 million dollars, NASA will be responsible of the management and ownership of the deorbit vehicle and the mission to deorbit the aging Space Station. This marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of space exploration, while ensuring that the ISS transition occurs safely and responsibly.
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