According to recently published plans, NASA intends to end its ISS program in 2030. This year, it is scheduled to be decommissioned and further disposed of by flooding in the South Pacific Ocean.
In recent years, discussions about its future after 2024 have not stopped among the participants in the ISS program.
However, even though there is still no clarity on this issue, the current US administration will extend its participation in it for a maximum of eight years.
For the station to function, NASA will upgrade it in several stages. Initially, it is planned to install new equipment and then involve private companies in updating the ISS to create their modules, which can become the core of future stations.
As for the prospects for the ISS, according to NASA, from 2026, it will begin to decline from its current orbit gradually.
From June to September 2030, three docked Russian Progress cargo ships will slow down the movement of the ISS with their engines.
After which it will drop to 280 km, thereby passing the point of no return.
In the dense layers of the atmosphere, part of the station will burn out. The remaining fragments will be flooded in the South Pacific Ocean in the area of the so-called spacecraft cemetery.
However, the significance of NASA's statement should not be exaggerated.
As D. Rogozin, head of the state corporation Roscosmos, assured, all participants in this international project will decide the fate of the ISS.
Thus, their presence in the ISS program can hardly be seen till 2030. Post that, NASA intends to depart its ways.