Reference image – The International Space Station is located in low Earth orbit.
Photo: NASA
NASA, in a statement, explained that Elon Musk’s SpaceX will be the company in charge of officially dismantling the International Space Station, which was launched in 1998. The agency plans to carry out this operation in 2031.
According to a statement, Elon Musk’s company will receive $843 million to develop and build the “American Deorbitation Vehicle,” which will be responsible for taking the space station back to Earth.
At the moment, NASA has not provided additional information about the details that this vehicle will have, or how it will be guaranteed that the parts of the station do not incinerate during re-entry and manage to land in an area known as Point Nemo, in the Pacific Ocean. .
“This decision also supports NASA’s plans for future commercial destinations and enables the continued use of near-Earth space,” Ken Bowersox, NASA associate administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate, said in the statement.
To date, the International Space Station is the largest man-made object that has ever orbited the planet, measuring 356 feet long and weighing nearly 450 tons. NASA noted that “more than 270 astronauts from around the world have visited the station so far, conducting more than 3,300 experiments in the process.”
Currently, there are seven astronauts aboard the station. This decision is made by NASA due to the different failures that the station has recently presented, such as microscopic leaks in the hull and software failures.
