The International Space Station (ISS) is nearing the end of its lifespan, with agencies around the world planning to decommission it around 2030. After nearly 24 years of continuous use by astronauts from the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada, and many other regions, the giant orbiting spacecraft is showing its age, and it’s nearly time to bring it down before its aging parts are destroyed in far more dangerous ways (see Inside NASA’s Ambitious Plan to Crash the ISS to Earth).
The effort to keep such a huge research facility in orbit has been controversial, with some saying it’s a waste of money and that it should have been taken off orbit long ago. Critics claim that the facility hasn’t lived up to all expectations and that the scientific results from research on the space station don’t contribute enough to problems on Earth. These criticisms may or may not be true, but they miss the point.
The ISS has always symbolized the possibility of a better world of peace and cooperation as a global collaboration in a very challenging adventure in space. Its two major stakeholders, the United States and Russia, have long been at odds on the ground, yet their astronauts continue to work together on the space station to increase global knowledge and reach into the solar system. The ISS is a symbol of humanity working towards a common goal.
With the ISS gone, it will be nearly impossible to see the same view again. NASA and other space agencies have their eye on the Moon, where the possibility of building an international astronaut village there, while promising, remains a pipe dream for now. The ISS, a prime example of international cooperation, will burn up in the atmosphere and sink into the ocean. Its loss will have ripples that go beyond space science. It would represent a decline in the global cooperation needed to address the big challenges the world currently faces, such as climate change, and is a loss we should all mourn.
topic:
- International Space Station/
- Space Exploration
