It’s been a home for astronauts for nearly 25 years, about 250 miles above the Earth’s surface.
But the International Space Station is due to be destroyed in 2030, and now NASA has firmed up its plans on how to do it.
The space agency has selected Elon Musk‘s SpaceX to build a ‘space tug’ vehicle that will pull it back down towards Earth.
When the two reach Earth’s atmosphere they will burn up – but NASA expects the risk of debris raining down on us will be very small.
Whatever SpaceX’s tugger will look like, it will have to be unmanned to prevent any heroic Hollywood-style astronaut sacrificing themselves.
It would be a sorry end to the iconic ISS, which has been an orbiting laboratory and living quarters for astronauts from around the world since 2000.
SpaceX has been given $843 million (£666 million) to design and build the ‘US Deorbit Vehicle’ vehicle, which could look similar to its Dragon series that transports crew and cargo.
近 25 年来，它一直是宇航员的家园，距离地球表面约 250 英里。 但国际空间站将于 2030 年被摧毁，现在 NASA 已经确定了如何摧毁它的计划。 美国宇航局已选择埃隆·马斯克 (Elon Musk) 的 SpaceX 来建造一辆“太空拖车”，将其拉回地球。 当两者到达地球大气层时，它们将会烧毁——但美国宇航局预计碎片落在地面的风险非常小。 无论 SpaceX 的拖车是什么样子，它都必须是无人驾驶的，以防止任何好莱坞式的英雄宇航员牺牲自己。 对于标志性的国际空间站来说，这将是一个令人遗憾的结局，自 2000 年以来，国际空间站一直是世界各地宇航员的轨道实验室和生活区。SpaceX 已获得 8.43 亿美元（6.66 亿英镑）的资金来设计和建造“美国脱轨飞行器”，该飞行器看起来可能类似于其运输人员和货物的龙飞船系列。
