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How to Destroy a Space Station
The end of the International Space Station will soon be upon us. What should we do with it?
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What do you do with an old space station? In the early years, when countries first started putting stations in orbit, the question seemed rather redundant. None of them lasted long. Salyut-1, the first, survived less than a year in orbit, and hosted just a single ill-fated crew of cosmonauts. Its successor, Salyut-2, made it through thirteen days before it was ripped apart by a cloud of debris and sent tumbling back to Earth.
Fortunately those of later years fared better, and one — Mir — set a record of fifteen years in orbit in 2001. Today just two stations exist, both of which have clocked up multiple years in space. The younger of the two, the Chinese Tiangong-2, is now in its third year of operation. The other, the International Space Station, has exceeded a quarter century in orbit.
In this the International Space Station has surpassed all expectations. Designers originally foresaw a lifespan of fifteen years: impressive by the standards of the time, but one that would have seen it abandoned in 2013. Operators now hope to…
