November 6, 2025

Big news from the stars! NASA has announced that the famous International Space Station (ISS) will say goodbye by 2030, diving safely into the vast Pacific Ocean. The plan? To send the ISS crashing over the most isolated spot on Earth—Point Nemo—often called the “spacecraft cemetery.” How cool is that? For over 25 years, the ISS has orbited Earth like a shining beacon in space, welcoming astronauts from 26 countries. This floating home, about 356 feet long and weighing 460 tons, has six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym, and even a bay window where astronauts admire Earth below. Why the farewell? The ISS is getting old. After decades in space, it’s showing signs of wear like air leaks and parts slowing down. NASA, along with Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, Europe, Japan, and Canada, has agreed it’s best to retire the station safely. Interestingly, Russia plans to pull out by 2028, while others will keep it running until 2030. NASA didn’t leave the landing to chance. They've hired SpaceX to create a special deorbit vehicle based on their Dragon cargo capsule. This clever machine will steer the ISS through a controlled reentry, ensuring pieces break up mostly in the atmosphere and that any leftover debris gently sinks in the ocean. The target? Point Nemo, located over 2,600 kilometers from the nearest land, making it the safest spot on Earth to drop big space machines. Point Nemo’s name comes from Captain Nemo, the mysterious sea explorer in Jules Verne's classic novel. The location is perfect to avoid any danger to people or property. What happens next? Once the ISS takes its deep dive, NASA's eyes will turn toward the Moon and Mars missions. They won’t build a new government space station but will instead partner with private companies like Axiom Space and Blue Origin. These firms are already designing new commercial space habitats. NASA plans to be one of many customers, buying crew and cargo services in low Earth orbit, making space activities more affordable and widespread. Right now, as of November 2025, seven brave astronauts live on the ISS aboard Expedition 73. They include NASA’s Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Jonny Kim; JAXA’s Kimiya Yui; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Platonov, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky. They continue awesome space research while getting ready for the station’s final journey. The end of the ISS is the end of an era. But it’s also the dawn of a new chapter where private companies will build the future of human life in space. Ready to watch the ISS plunge into history? It’s going to be one spectacular splash!

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Tags: Iss, International space station, Nasa, Spacex, Point Nemo, Space Deorbit,