It’s Time to Say Goodbye to the ISS

The most expensive man-made object ever built will soon cease to exist. Although the International Space Station (ISS) was originally scheduled for decommissioning in 2024, the space station will continue to operate until 2030. NASA, though, has now approved plans to decommission the ISS and has even chosen the spacecraft that will deorbit the station: the US Deorbit Vehicle, developed by SpaceX.

We have already shared the history of the ISS’s creation and explained how it operates. Today, we’ll delve into why the time has come to at last bid a fond farewell.

“Increasingly problematic”

The ISS began operations in 1998 when its American and Russian space modules were docked. It has been continuously inhabited since November 2000 and has been visited by more than 270 astronauts from 22 countries. The station has been supported by 14 countries and 5 different space agencies (from the USA, Europe, Canada, Japan, and Russia). Previously, these parties agreed to finance its work until 2024, which was later extended for another six years.

The service life of the space station’s original components was designed for 30 years, meaning that, when the station is finally decommissioned, it will have exceeded its intended lifespan. The ISS, as it were, is aging much faster than the human body, and this irreversible process has produced symptoms that can no longer be ignored not only for the safety of the astronauts aboard the ISS but also for people on Earth.

Issues with airtightness

For the past five years, air leaks have been reported on the ISS, and the issue is only getting worse. According to a NASA audit, air leaks are described as the “main safety risk” that directly impacts the possibility of keeping astronauts on the ISS until 2030.

The affected area is located in the Russian segment, in the “Zvezda” service module. The good news is that this segment can be isolated; the bad news is that the scale of the leak is growing. At its lowest levels, 0.09 kg per day was leaking, with an average of 0.27 kg. However, this amount reached 1 kg per day in February 2024, and, just two months later, this climbed to 1.6 kg per day.

Although NASA considers the situation to be under control, the risk level is currently rated at five out of five. The chances of resolving the problem are extremely low, as repair and maintenance are complicated by the station’s remote location, approximately 400 km from Earth.

Outdated spacesuits

“Age-related” issues have affected not only the main components of the ISS but also the spacesuits used on the space station. NASA refers to these suits as “single-person spacecraft” that are designed to protect astronauts from heat, cold, radiation, and space dust. They also supply drinking water and deliver oxygen during spacewalks. Unfortunately, the equipment currently used on the ISS is increasingly outdated and prone to issues, as noted by NASA astronaut and Crew-8 commander Matthew Dominick after his return from the space station in October 2024.

Dominick was referring to the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits, which are now several decades old. The EMUs were developed in the 1970s and came into use in the 1980s, during the Space Shuttle program. They were later adapted for use on the ISS. Problems with the suits were first documented in 2013, with the most serious incident involving a coolant leak when the helmet of Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano filled with water during a spacewalk.

“Hostages” on the ISS

Boeing’s Starliner was supposed to deliver two American astronauts to the ISS in early June 2024 and return them to Earth just eight days later. As it turned out, the docking was successful, but the astronauts did not return home either in June…or even in February 2025, when this article was being prepared. NASA has released a damning report, accusing Boeing of “failing to meet quality control standards.” Meanwhile, the astronauts will remain stranded on the ISS until March 2025.

Boeing’s efforts over several months have proved ineffective. The issue lies with a misassembled liquid oxygen fuel tank dome. Although Boeing claims that the capsule is still capable of bringing astronauts back home, this has yet to happen.

The astronauts aboard the space station are safe and have sufficient food supplies, but medical experts are increasingly concerned about their health. Sunita Williams was the first to start losing weight, followed by Barry Wilmore, likely due to natural causes related to prolonged exposure to low-gravity conditions. Additionally, both astronauts have already been exposed to significant levels of radiation. NASA is closely monitoring their health and awaits their return to Earth for further examinations.

This incident involving astronauts’ health is not an isolated one. In November 2024, the entire crew of four astronauts from the Crew 8 mission was also hospitalized immediately upon return from the ISS aboard the Dragon spacecraft. NASA has not disclosed the reasons for their hospitalization, revealing only that one crew member remains under medical observation.

Kent Rominger, a former astronaut and member of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), stated that “both NASA and SpaceX must focus on the safe operation of the Crew Dragon and should not take ‘normal’ operations for granted.” He emphasized that safe operation requires meticulous attention to detail, particularly as equipment ages and operational demands increase.

These two incidents, occurring one after another, are unrelated to the International Space Station itself. However, discussions of them always involve mentioning the ISS in relation to dangers to astronauts’ health, intensifying concerns about its safety and suitability for continued operation.

It’s worth recalling that Boeing and SpaceX, strong competitors, signed agreements with NASA in 2014 to develop commercial crew transportation to space. Together, they received $6.8 billion for these projects. NASA’s interest in Boeing’s program may decline, while its collaboration with SpaceX is expected to continue since the company has a better track record of successfully docking its spacecraft with the ISS.

Uncontrolled space debris and other problems in orbit

Space debris was already being called one of the most critical global issues in space in 2021. As a result of more than 60 years of space launches, tens of thousands of fragments have accumulated in low Earth orbit. These include dead satellites and their components, fragments from collisions, and debris resulting from other activities like the separation of rocket stages.

In recent years, the situation has worsened significantly, with the ISS being both directly and indirectly implicated. The more satellites that are launched into space, the higher the risk of their collision with the space station. Large pieces of space debris force the ISS to perform unplanned maneuvers to avoid impact. This increases fuel consumption by an estimated 10% on average above the necessary amount and leads to enormous financial costs: up to $1 million per maneuver.

In some situations, astronauts are compelled to take shelter or adjust the timing of their spacewalks. These measures are not merely precautionary: NASA asserts that even a microscopic particle of space debris hitting the ISS could cause operational issues.

The causes of unplanned maneuvers are not limited to debris but also include operational satellites in low Earth orbit. In March 2022, the ISS had to perform a maneuver to avoid a collision with the Argentine Earth observation satellite ÑuSat 17. In November 2021, a fragment of debris left by an anti-satellite (ASAT) system forced ISS crew members to don their spacesuits while waiting for the incident to pass.

Criticism

Although ISS maneuvers are not extraordinary, the massive space station has been making unplanned movements more frequently than ever. This increases the already substantial costs of maintaining the station: NASA alone spends over $3 billion annually on it, roughly a third of the entire budget for human spaceflight programs. Maintaining the station is prohibitively expensive and potentially hazardous, partly due to its highly inclined orbit. While this orbit simplifies launches for the Russian side, it poses challenges for the American side. This issue was flagged as early as the ISS design phase by the Pacific Astronomical Society.

High expenses, orbital challenges, and astronaut safety concerns are frequent points of criticism against the ISS. In the U.S., there are recurring arguments that the freed-up funds could be better spent on unmanned missions for near-space exploration or on scientific programs on Earth. Many scientific experiments planned for the ISS could have been carried out more simply and cheaply using a specialized airplane flying in a parabolic trajectory. Some research is outright impossible because the necessary equipment cannot be delivered to the station. Completed studies, particularly those examining the effects of spaceflight on humans (e.g., on the nervous system, biological processes, or kidney stones), have often been met with skepticism due to their limited practical value. Most upcoming space programs focus on unmanned missions, with the exception of the still-niche field of space tourism.

Like any aging spacecraft, the ISS requires repairs and maintenance, which are further complicated by its remote location. NASA’s report, “Risk Management for Sustaining ISS Operations Through 2030,” highlights critical risks for the station, ranging from supply chain issues for repairs to the sudden impact of micrometeoroids.

If things are so terrible, why will the ISS continue operating beyond 2024?

Despite numerous factors that strongly suggest the need to retire the ISS, its decommissioning has been postponed from 2024 to 2030. This decision is rooted in the fact that the ISS serves as both a symbol and a tool of American leadership in space science and exploration. For NASA and the United States, the station demonstrates its technological superiority and innovation on the global stage.

Additionally, supporting the ISS positively impacts the commercial space sector, fostering the development of space technologies and services, including the potential construction of new space stations. Ground-based programs associated with the ISS also help inspire younger generations to pursue careers in science and engineering, which is essential for advancing the nation’s scientific and technological potential. In other words, Washington invests in the ISS to maintain the country’s global competitiveness and to effectively counter rivals like Russia and China, which are also expanding their space programs.

China in particular is emerging as a major player in space. In just a few years, it has achieved independently what took the U.S. decades to do and has already completed the construction of its own space station, Tiangong. Currently, its core module, Tianhe, along with two experimental modules, Wentian and Mengtian, are operational in low Earth orbit. These modules are designed for research in biomedicine, astronomy, physics, and other scientific fields.

Tiangong is expected to operate for 10 to 15 years, after which its service life may be extended. China will also allow other countries to conduct experiments aboard the space station. However, a partnership with NASA is currently impossible because the agency is prohibited from collaborating with China due to national security concerns under the “Wolf Amendment,” passed by Congress in 2011.

That said, fostering international relations in space is not a top priority for China in any case. Instead, it prefers to use Tiangong to showcase its leadership and as a symbol of independence from the space programs and agencies of other nations.

The completion of the Tiangong station has already established China as a fully-fledged space power. Jan Osburg, an aerospace engineer at Rand Corporation, said “We can no longer take for granted that we are the big players in space. For the U.S. and its allies, this is a signal not to let up.” He also expressed the hope that the U.S., rather than authoritarian states like China, would set the tone for space exploration in the future.

While the U.S. cannot ignore Tiangong’s significant geopolitical implications, it currently lacks a viable alternative, at least in the near future. This has also contributed to the decision to extend the ISS’s operational timeline, despite its aging infrastructure and mounting problems.

How the decision was made to deorbit the ISS

The ISS weighs slightly over 420,000 kg. Allowing such a massive object to deorbit uncontrollably poses a significant risk. Moreover, since the station is managed by multiple countries, the decision to decommission it must be made jointly. Initially, NASA approached the Russian side, as it oversees the station’s movement. However, the proposed solution proved unfeasible: even the combined capabilities of every Russian Progress spacecraft, which can be used for propulsion, would not be sufficient to achieve a controlled deorbit.

Dismantling the ISS and deorbiting its fragments piece by piece is also impossible since the station was designed for assembly in space but not for disassembly. Moreover, preliminary calculations showed that the cost of dismantling and subsequent controlled deorbiting would be prohibitively high for NASA. This does not account for the fact that no spacecraft currently exists that is large enough to return significant segments of the station to Earth. These limitations also complicate repairs of the main modules, which have suffered wear and tear—existing spacecraft can only deliver smaller equipment, like solar panels.

As a result, international partners have agreed to begin searching for an independent contractor to deorbit the ISS. NASA then selected SpaceX for the job. Northrop Grumman, a leading U.S. supplier of solid rocket motors for national security and defense, also submitted a bid.

For the ISS deorbit mission, SpaceX is developing the United States Deorbit Vehicle (USDV), an upgraded version of the Dragon spacecraft, and will receive $843 million for the project. Upon completion, NASA will own and operate the USDV. The USDV crew is expected to leave the ISS once its orbit is lowered to 330 km. The station will then gradually descend over six months, ultimately deorbiting into the Pacific Ocean at a designated area approximately 2,000 km wide.

What will happen when the ISS finally goes away?

The decommissioning of the ISS represents a significant financial opportunity for NASA, as it will free up large portions of the budget, even if the agency continues to lease facilities on commercial space stations. These funds will be redirected toward flight operations, personnel salaries, and supporting other related operations. The projected savings by 2031 will amount to $1.3 billion and could reach $1.8 billion by 2033. “This amount could be used for NASA’s deep space exploration initiatives, allowing the agency to explore the cosmos more extensively and rapidly. It could also be allocated to other NASA programs, including the Artemis missions,” according to the “International Space Station Transition Report.”

Currently, the U.S. and NASA are not considering building a successor to the ISS. Instead, they plan to foster partnerships with private companies. NASA has announced plans to develop a space station that will be built and operated by a private company, possibly Axiom Space, Voyager Space, or Blue Origin. NASA has already allocated several hundred million dollars to each of these companies and plans to share its extensive expertise.

One such project is “Orbital Reef,” proposed by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin in partnership with Sierra Space Corporation. This project envisions the construction of a sizable space station for scientific research, space tourism, and even manufacturing facilities. Axiom Space, which conducted the first commercial flight to the ISS in 2022, plans to build its own free-flying space station with a research laboratory and several unique features, such as a film studio.

Northrop Grumman has similar ambitions for its space station, which is expected to be equipped with external robotic control elements to perform maintenance tasks instead of astronauts. According to some reports, NASA plans to select a single major partner in the end, while others suggest it intends to collaborate with multiple private companies. However, all projects are still in the early stages, and success cannot be guaranteed, even if they have already received funding from the agency.

At the same time, we are observing the development of another major project involving NASA and several other space agencies, including those from Europe, Japan, Canada, and Dubai. The goal is to construct the Gateway (also known as Lunar Gateway) space station beyond low Earth orbit by the end of the 2020s. It will play a key role in the Artemis program after 2024 and will enable human presence on the Moon and Mars.

The International Space Station has been a symbol of scientific and technological progress for three decades. It has served as a platform for unique research and brought together scientists from different countries, demonstrating that space can be a place for peaceful and productive collaboration. However, like any man-made object, the ISS has aged and will inevitably deorbit, both literally and figuratively. But humanity is not stopping: in fact, it is setting new ambitious goals in space and working toward implementing projects that may not be as large in scale but are just as important.