International Space Station will Crash Into the Pacific Ocean’s ‘Spacecraft Cemetery’

NASA plans to plunge its International Space Station through the Earth’s atmosphere and into the Pacific Ocean where it’ll rest in the “spacecraft cemetery.”

And no, this isn’t the plot of an upcoming sci-fi space film or novel. The plan to put an end to the space station’s orbit around Earth by 2031 is laid out in NASA’s International Space Station Transition Report updated Jan. 31.

It’s headed for a remote area of the ocean called the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area, sometimes referred as the “spacecraft cemetery,” which is around Point Nemo — the farthest point from human civilization and land, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NASA’s report, delivered to Congress, “details the goals for the next decade of station operations leading to a smooth transition to commercial services,” it said in a Jan. 31 news release.

When the space station officially retires in 2030 before its planned deorbit back to Earth in 2031, commercial space destinations developed by NASA-selected companies will take its place, according to the news release.

“The International Space Station is entering its third and most productive decade as a groundbreaking scientific platform in microgravity,” International Space Station Director Robyn Gatens said in a statement.

“This third decade is one of results, building on our successful global partnership to verify exploration and human research technologies to support deep space exploration, continue to return medical and environmental benefits to humanity, and lay the groundwork for a commercial future in low-Earth orbit.”

The ocean’s spacecraft cemetery

The International Space Station’s planned final resting place — Point Nemo — is inspired by the fictional character Captain Nemo in the novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” by Jules Verne, according to the NOAA. The closest piece of land is Ducie Island which is roughly 1,450 nautical miles away and a part of the volcanic Pitcairn Islands owned by the United Kingdom.

Additionally, on a map, its coordinates are 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W with New Zealand to its west, Chile to its east and Antarctica in the south.

Since the International Space Station is so large, roughly the size of an entire football field, it “might not entirely burn up before reaching the ground,” NASA says, and that’s why it’s being sent to the farthest point from land.

This isn’t the first time spacecraft have been sent to the depths of the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area.

In 2001, Russia’s huge Mir space station assumed its place in the ocean cemetery, Smithsonian Magazine reported. Although the space station in its entirety weighed 143 tons, just 20 tons of it sits in the ocean.

“There’s a lot of space history down there, but of course, none of these spacecraft are just sitting neatly on the ocean floor in one piece. Or even two pieces,” Kiona Smith-Strickland wrote in 2015 for Gizmodo. “Re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere is a violent, destructive process for any object that tries it, whether it’s a meteor or a space station.”

In 2031, operators of the International Space Station “will perform the ISS re-entry burn, providing the final push to lower ISS as much as possible and ensure safe atmospheric entry,” the report says.

Since 1971, the U.S., Russia, Japan and European nations have immersed different space objects into the Pacific Ocean, according to CNN.

The upcoming decade

Part of the International Space Station, where scientific research occurs, was first launched in November 1998, and additional pieces followed until 2000 when the first astronaut crew made it there, according to NASA.

President Joe Biden’s administration extended the space station’s operations until 2030 “to enable continuation of the groundbreaking research being conducted,” NASA said in a Dec. 31, 2021, news release.

It “is a beacon of peaceful international scientific collaboration and for more than 20 years has returned enormous scientific, educational, and technological developments to benefit humanity,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

NASA has already chosen three U.S. companies to develop commercial space destinations, it said in a Dec. 2, 2021, news release.

The companies are Blue Origin of Kent, Washington; Nanoracks LLC, of Houston; and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation of Dulles, Virginia.

“The private sector is technically and financially capable of developing and operating commercial low-Earth orbit destinations, with NASA’s assistance,” NASA’s director of commercial space, Phil McAlister, said in the Jan. 31 news release.

NASA seeks to ensure “a smooth transition to commercial destinations after retirement of the International Space Station in 2030,” McAlister added.

McClatchy News has reached out to NASA for additional comments.

NOAA deferred a request for comment to NASA.

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