SpaceX Wins Chance to Purposefully Deorbit the ISS into Pacific #space #nasa #spacex

So, SpaceX just got the green light to crash the ISS into the Pacific. Yup, they’re basically taking out the cosmic trash.

Since 1998, the International Space Station has been zooming around Earth, doubling as a research hub and a really expensive piece of space real estate. But come 2030, its operational life hits the end of the line.

We can't just leave the ISS floating up there indefinitely because, well, it would eventually break apart and give us an unasked-for meteor shower. Think of it like leaving your leftover pizza out – it’s going to get gross fast.

NASA's brilliant solution? Toss it into the Pacific Ocean like some interstellar dunk tank. That’s where SpaceX comes in, tasked with building the deorbit vehicle. This fancy craft will ensure the ISS makes its way down safely, avoiding any accidental "oops" moments of debris raining down on us.

With a cool $843 million contract on the table, let's hope SpaceX nails this space janitor gig without a hitch.

[Sef_Era]

Why not just push it up into a graveyard orbit, like every other satellite that’s ever gone off?

[wvadam]

It's nothing like leaving a pizza out trust me

[jacobfromallstate]

Everyone thinking its more convenient to fly it like 80+ MILLION miles into the sun than burning it up in our own atmosphere.

[yrosalbalazcano]

so, here how i think it is, the sls if docked would carry 2-4 poeple on the iss, then the 5-7 poeple left will be taken off by the 3-4 soyuzes docked

[yrosalbalazcano]

if you say sent it to space or worse sun thats like:let's go 99m miles (sun to earth) to our next stop and not go 389 miles(iss to earth) to to our next stop

[iliketurtles]

i wish they would bring it back and put it on display or something, but thats obviously not economically viable

[dinsdalemontypiranha]

That's great! Thanks for sharing it.

[pjthedjhw]

Wish someone could save it for history

[AgraFarmsllc]

I want to attach a booster to it and take it to a la grange point for using as a hub for recycling in space manufacturing hub. We need to be able to remote work tasking what better use than use something already there.

[bigdnelyria]

Instead of bring it down, why not attach a booster rocket onto it and send it out into space? Then they don't need to worry contaminating the planet with toxic materials nor do they have to worry about it falling in the wrong place. Especially with the cleanup afterwards when it finally does land what's left of it

[InnercityHillbilly]

I don't understand why they are doing that to all that expensive equipment whenever they could repurpose at least 50% of it

[andrewmalyn]

Lucky that the earth is stationary because who knows where it would end up