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Why deorbit the ISS?
NASA contracted SpaceX to build a Dragon-based vehicle to deorbit the ISS after 2030. But why destroy the longest-serving permanently crewed space station in human history after investing hundreds of billions of dollars into it over a third of a century?
Where is the International Space Station?
Live ISS view
A blue screen may appear during "loss of signal" periods.
since 06:40 UTC Nov. 20, 1998
since Nov. 2, 2000
since 08:36 UTC Sept. 23, 2024
Next event:
All times UTC
Crew: Expedition 72
Began Sept. 23, 2024; transitioning to Expedition 72 in April 2025
Docked Sept. 29, 2024
* Sunita Williams, NASA
| Commander
* Butch Wilmore, NASA
| Flight Engineer
Nick Hague, NASA
| Flight Engineer
Aleksandr Gorbunov, Roscosmos
| Flight Engineer
Launched: Sept. 28, 2024, aboard Crew-9 Dragon
Expected landing: Feb. 22, 2025, aboard Crew-9 Dragon
Docked Sept. 11, 2024
Aleksey Ovchinin, Roscosmos
| Flight Engineer
Ivan Vagner, Roscosmos
| Flight Engineer
Donald Pettit, NASA
| Flight Engineer
Launched: Sept. 11, 2024, aboard Soyuz MS-26
Expected landing: April 1, 2025, aboard Soyuz MS-26
* Note: Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams launched to the ISS in Starliner’s Crew Flight Test on June 5, 2024, and is now expected to return to Earth aboard Crew-9 Dragon in February 2025.
The official Expedition 72 crew portrait. Credit: NASA
Currently docked and berthed spacecraft
Russian orbital segment
Zvezda aft
Spacecraft: Progress MS-28
Arrival: Aug. 17, 2024
Planned departure: Feb. 12, 2025
Poisk zenith
Spacecraft: Progress MS-27
Arrival: June 1, 2024
Planned departure: Nov. 19, 2024
Prichal nadir
Unoccupied
Rassvet nadir
Spacecraft: Soyuz MS-26
Arrival: Sept. 11, 2024
Planned departure: April 1, 2025
US orbital segment
Unity nadir
Spacecraft: NG-21 Cygnus
Arrival: Aug. 6, 2024
Planned departure: January 2025
Harmony zenith
Spacecraft: Crew-9 Dragon
Arrival: Sept. 29, 2024
Planned departure: Feb. 22, 2025
Harmony nadir
Unoccupied
Harmony forward
Spacecraft: CRS-31 Dragon
Arrival: Nov. 5, 2024
Planned departure: Dec. 2024
News
The crew on board the International Space Station conduct cutting edge research, inspire thousands of children into STEAM fields and is arguably a bigger, greater and more challenging project than going to the moon was nearly 50 years ago.
Expeditions
Since Nov. 2, 2000, the International Space Station has been continuously occupied by at least two people. Over the last two decades more than 225 people have visited or lived aboard the ISS, including individuals from at least 10 countries.
ISS configuration
The ISS consists of 16 pressurized modules and a truss structure with solar array wings spanning an area larger than a football field. It took dozens of rocket launches and over 1,000 crew-hours to assemble this $100 billion outpost.
