The International Space Station is finished! Where's my wrecking ball?

SCIENCE LAB: "What Happens After It's Finished? Debate centers on whether the international space station should be destroyed," by Joel Achenbach, Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 20-26 July 2009.

Hard to believe that NASA's current plan is to complete construction of the ISS by the end of next year and then bring it down in a controlled crash in 2016.

NASA also considering what it would cost to keep it going deep into the 2020s.

One scientist derides the ISS as the equivalent of flag-pole sitting. You've got to be pretty old to remember that one.

Comments

[PurpleSlog]

I hope they at least sell it or give it away.

If they bring it down, I am pretty much ok with eliminating NASA and starting over with a small reseach agency, and a space grant agency.

[Steven J.]

I would tend to agree w/ the above post. But better yet, why not sell it (or give it away) to private industry while leaving it up there in tact.

Surely having a home base for private industry in space has some value over and above the operating costs to keep it running. I can't believe there isn't someone who'd like to build a big solar panel farm or something of the sort up there in space.

[Brent]

This is a joke. 16 nations own the ISS, you can't sell it or give it away. And screw the first comment, NASA is a great agency, filled with hard working and dedicated people.