Spacex Awarded Contract To De-Orbit ISS

The year 2030 is not so far away - and for the International Space Station that doesn't just mean retirement but destruction.

NASA's plan to de-orbit the International Space Station by the year 2030 now has an active partner in the process. The US space agency has awarded Elon Musk's SpaceX 843 million US dollars to develop a vehicle that will destroy the orbiting space laboratory. The ISS, which has been in orbit since 1998, has also been the home of Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, since late 2000, when the first ham radio contact was made with the Expedition-1 crew.

According to various media reports, SpaceX will design the de-orbit vehicle and set the stage for safe dismantling and disposal away from populated areas on Earth. NASA hopes it will find its final resting place somewhere in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and South America.