The International Space Station (ISS) is approaching its farewell. According to official documents of the NASAthe US agency will maintain the operation of the station until the year 2030the date on which it is expected to end its activities and begin a new stage dominated by commercial space stations.
The announcement confirms that the ISS will continue to operate safely alongside its international partners, the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan, Canada y Russiabefore a specially designed vehicle takes care of your controlled re-entry to Earth.
A decision programmed and coordinated at an international level
The NASA detailed in his International Space Station Transition Plan that the ISS will continue active until 2030 while a progressive transition towards private infrastructure in low orbit. This decision was made jointly with partner countries, which also support the closure of operations on that date.
In February 2024, the agency announced the selection of an American vehicle that will be responsible for the final phase of the project: guide the station toward safe reentry into the atmospherepreventing uncontrolled remains from representing a risk. The plan establishes that scientific operations will be maintained until the last moment, and that the withdrawal will be staggered to minimize the impact on ongoing research.
A transition to the future of space exploration
Saying goodbye to the International Space Station does not imply a setback, but rather a transformation of the space model. NASA explained that the next few years will serve to transport experiments, scientific missions and logistical operations to commercial platforms orbiting the Earth.
According to MilitaryAerospacethis transition will allow the agency to focus on more ambitious exploration programs, such as the project Artemis towards the Luna and the future missions to Mars. Meanwhile, private companies such as Axiom Space y Blue Origin They are working on developing their own stations, which could begin operating at the end of the decade.
What will happen to the ISS after 2030
According to Euronews y WUSFthe end of the station’s useful life will not be immediate or abrupt. After more than 25 years of operations, the NASA proven that the ISS partially disintegrates during reentry and that the remains fall into one remote area of the pacific ocean known as “Point Nemo”.
Engineers are already working on a technical protocol to ensure that the process is fully controlled and safe. This procedure will mark the closing of one of the most important international scientific collaborations in modern history, a symbol of cooperation between nations even in times of political tension.
A scientific legacy that will change form, not spirit
Since his first module launched in 1998the International Space Station ha hosted more than 250 astronauts from 20 countries and has served as a microgravity research laboratory for medical, technological and environmental advances.
Although he 2030 will mark the end of its operational life, His legacy will continue in future private stations and in interplanetary missions that will benefit from the knowledge acquired. The ISS It will not disappear from history: it will become the foundation on which the next era of human exploration in space will take off.
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