The ISS Will Crash Into The Pacific In 2031

The International Space Station has been in orbit since 2000 and has conducted some important research. However, the ISS is aging and is starting to have significant problems. NASA has now confirmed that it will continue to operate the ISS until the end of 2030.

When that year arrives, the ISS will be deorbited and crashed into a very remote part of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo. NASA says that private companies are both technically and financially capable of developing commercial low-Earth orbit destinations with help from NASA.

NASA says it will share lessons learned and operation experience with the private sector to help them develop safe, reliable, and cost-effective destinations in space. NASA commercialized rocket launches in the same way it aims to commercialize research in space via space stations in the future.

NASA estimates that the ISS’s deorbit will happen in January 2031. Point Nemo, where the ISS will crash, is the point in the ocean farthest away from any land and has been used as a grave for other spacecraft in the past. It lies approximately 3000 miles off the eastern coast of New Zealand and is home to 263 pieces of space debris that have crashed there since 1971.