SpaceX wins contract to destroy the International Space Station.

Under a new contract with NASA, SpaceX will build a vehicle called the US Deorbit to launch the ISS into Earth's atmosphere while avoiding risks to densely populated areas. NASA will own the vehicle and handle the operation of re-entering the space station.

The aging components of the International Space Station have led NASA and its foreign partners to set 2030 as the planned retirement date. Photo: NASA

The International Space Station, roughly the size of a football field and primarily led by the US and Russia, has been home to astronauts for the past 24 years. However, aging components of the ISS have led NASA and its foreign partners to decide to retire it by 2030.

The US, Japan, Canada, and the European Space Agency countries have committed to collaborating on space stations until 2030, while Russia has agreed to remain a partner until 2028, a time when the Russian space agency Roscosmos believes its hardware is ready to operate.

Scientific collaboration on the ISS, orbiting approximately 400 km above the Earth's surface, has survived through years of geopolitical conflict on Earth, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict—an event that ended almost all cooperative relations between Russia and the Western world.

The US-Russia alliance is largely technical, with Russian boosters maintaining the station's orbital altitude and US solar arrays providing power.

Those Russian thrusters were originally intended to propel the ISS into Earth's atmosphere once it ceased operation. But in recent years, NASA has sought to launch the space station into the atmosphere on its own should Russia leave the alliance sooner than planned.

Hoai Phuong (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/spacex-gianh-duoc-hop-dong-pha-huy-tram-vu-tru-quoc-te-post301074.html