In our dysfunctional world, practically the only instance of collaboration between the nuclear powers US and Russia is in Space, most notably in the International Space Station (ISS).
But the aging craft is not designed to live forever – in fact, in less than a decade the station will be dragged back to earth where most of it will burn up in thew atmosphere and the rest will plunge in the Ocean.
Unilad reported:
“SpaceX has won a contract to help destroy NASA’s International Space Station – and it’s set to take place sooner than you’d think.”
The ISS was created in 1998 by NASA, Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), and CSA (Canada).
In it, astronauts and cosmonauts have run experiments that can’t be done anywhere else.
The operational life of the ISS is set to end in 2030.
“Then, a spacecraft will latch on to the ISS and use its thrusters to propel the space station towards Earth. And it’s Elon Musk’s SpaceX which has secured the $843,000,000 contract to do the honors.”
SpaceX will use a modified, much more powerful version of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for this mission.
“As the ISS moves through the Earth’s atmosphere, the station will largely break in to pieces and burn up. But the larger modules of the space station will make it through the atmosphere and land in a final splash spot, the location of which NASA is yet to publicly confirm.”