NASA plans to decommission the International Space Station in late 2030

NASA intends to continue operating the International Space Station (ISS) until the end of 2030, after which the ISS will crash into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean known as Point Nemo, revealed the American space agency.

Launched in 2000, the space lab is in orbit 227 nautical miles above Earth and has been visited by more than 200 astronauts from 19 different countries, representing a continuous human presence in space.

NASA said commercially operated space platforms would replace the ISS as a place for collaboration and scientific research.

“The private sector is technically and financially capable of developing and operating commercial destinations in low Earth orbit, with the help of NASA. We look forward to sharing our lessons learned and operations experience with the private sector to help them develop safe, reliable, and cost-effective space destinations, ” said Phil McAlister, Director of Commercial Space at Headquarters, in a statement. from NASA.

“The report we submitted to Congress outlines, in detail, our comprehensive plan to ensure a smooth transition to commercial destinations following the decommissioning of the International Space Station in 2030,” McAlister added.

In the International Space Station Transition Report, NASA said the ISS was expected to fall back to Earth in an area known as the South Pacific Uninhabited Ocean Area, also known as Point Nemo.

Named after a character in Jules Verne’s novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” Point Nemo is the furthest point in the ocean from shore and has served as a graveyard for many other spacecraft.