The International Space Station has been continuously occupied by spacefarers from countries around the world for the last two decades, but it’s time among the cosmos won’t last forever.
Even now, NASA is laying the groundwork for plans to safely deorbit and land the low-Earth orbit space station, the largest of its kind ever built.
Private companies have until Feb. 12 to submit design proposals for “a new or modified spacecraft using a large amount of propellant” that in the years ahead, will be tasked with docking with the space station and safely crashing it into an ocean. NASA plans to award the contract in June for the vehicle, which will be deployed upon the space station’s impending retirement in 2030.
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What is the International Space Station?
Designed and operated thanks to a global partnership of space agencies, the International Space Station has been home to crews of astronauts, cosmonauts and plenty of others since November 2000, NASA says.
More than 260 spacefarers from 20 countries have visited to the International Space Station, including 163 from the United States alone, according to the U.S. space agency.
Crew members who live and conduct scientific experiment aboard the space station orbit Earth 16 times a day. The orbital outpost is larger than a six-bedroom house with six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym, and a 360-degree view bay window, according to NASA.
Since 1998, more than…
