The Day to Retire the Orbiting Laboratory is Nearing as Weak Points Show

With the International Space Station having officially carried humans around for the past 25 years, the time is fast approaching for NASA to retire it and move forward with new space research ventures. If the current timeline remains, less than five years remain before the orbiting laboratory plunges into the ocean.

The ISS has been humanity’s longest-running outpost in space since it began operations in 1998. Orbiting roughly 260 miles above Earth, it has hosted more than 280 astronauts from 26 countries as a hub for all sorts of research. The lab has also been a prime example of global partnership, having been built and used by NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, and CSA.

Most partners have pledged to support ISS operations until 2030, though Russia plans to step away in 2028. By then, NASA intends to begin the deorbiting process, using a new spacecraft built by SpaceX to steer the massive lab into an uninhabited stretch of ocean. This will execute a precise burn to lower the ISS’s orbit and guide it into the atmosphere, where most of its components will vaporize. Whatever doesn’t will, hopefully, sink quietly to the ocean floor.

The ISS has also become increasingly fragile. Cracks, leaks, and power system faults have multiplied, and NASA’s own Inspector General cast doubt on whether the structure can remain fully functional through the 2030 target.

These concerns haven’t stopped crews from making the most out of the lab while it’s still in one piece. The ISS currently hosts seven residents for Expedition 73, including NASA’s Crew-11, which launched in August aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

The retirement of the ISS doesn’t mean an end to orbital living… just a change of management, as NASA has no plans to build another government-run station. Instead, it will pay rent to private operators. SpaceX, Axiom Space, and others are developing commercial platforms to host research and, eventually, tourists.

FMI: www.nasa.gov