Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been selected by NASA to build a spacecraft that will de-orbit the International Space Station and burn it up in the Earth’s atmosphere after the lab is retired in 2030, Bloomberg reports.
The contract with NASA is worth $843 million, the US agency said in a statement Wednesday.
Along with the ISS, which has been home to astronauts for years, SpaceX’s new craft is “expected to disintegrate during re-entry,” NASA said.
SpaceX will develop the so-called de-orbital spacecraft, and NASA will take ownership after development and operate it throughout its mission, the agency said.
Five space agencies have operated the ISS since 1998: NASA, Roscosmos State Space Corporation, CSA (Canadian Space Agency), ESA (European Space Agency), and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). Each agency is responsible for managing and controlling the equipment it provides.
The station was designed to be interdependent, and its operation depends on contributions from all members of the partnership. The United States, Japan, Canada, and ESA member countries have committed to operating the ISS until 2030. Russia has committed to continue to operate the station until at least 2028. The safe exit of the International Space Station is the responsibility of all five space agencies.
