NASA selects SpaceX to launch ISS into orbit in 2030

The International Space Station, as photographed by Expedition 56 crew members. Credit: NASA/Roscosmos

NASA announced this week that it has selected SpaceX will design a vehicle deorbit the International Space Station (ISS) when its mission ends in 2030.

“Selecting a U.S. deorbit vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition into low-Earth orbit at the end of station operations,” said Associate Administrator of NASA for the Space Operations Mission Directorate, Ken Bowersox, in an accompanying press release. “This decision also supports NASA's plans for future commercial destinations and enables the continued use of space near Earth.”

The plan is for the International Space Station and the SpaceX spacecraft to break up and burn up in a controlled manner over the ocean after re-entering Earth's atmosphere. The remaining debris will impact the ocean, rather than risk falling to land.

Missions to the ISS began in 1998. Since then, the station has served as a laboratory for studying the long-term effects of microgravity on humans, plants, and other organisms. It has also hosted many other experiments and even telescopes.

Related: How to see the ISS without a telescope

NASA considered and rejected other Options for the fate of the ISSThese included disassembling and returning the station to Earth, boosting it into a higher orbit, and letting it fall uncontrolled back to Earth.