SpaceX wins NASA contract to develop US deorbit vehicle

The ISS is aging, and for safety's sake, NASA intends to incinerate the immense facility around 2031. To accomplish the job, the agency will pay SpaceX up to $843 million, according to a statement released on June 26.

As the agency transitions to commercially owned space destinations closer to home, it is crucial to prepare for the safe and responsible deorbit of the International Space Station in a controlled manner after the end of its operational life in 2030.

But it won't just be abandoned to float the cosmos for eternity. NASA has selected one of the U.S.'s prominent space-bound companies to destroy it. SpaceX has been selected to take on the $843 million contract to bring the ISS out of orbit and back into the atmosphere, which will effectively destroy it.

A partnership between European countries (represented by ESA), the United States (NASA), Japan (JAXA), Canada (CSA) and Russia (Roscosmos), the International Space Station is the world's largest international cooperative programme in science and technology.