SpaceX reveals how it will destroy the ISS

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. ISS program manager Dana Weigel revealed that the space station will first perform a “drift down” from its normal orbit roughly 12 to 18 months before the forced deorbit. Once the space station has reached this altitude – roughly 180 km lower than its typical altitude of 400 km – SpaceX’s new craft will “perform a series of burns to set us up for that final deorbit, and then four days later it will do the final re-entry burn”, Ms Weigel added. “One of the benefits of leveraging Dragon’s rich flight history is that we can continue to use Nasa-certified hardware for a number of the key systems, like the docking system,” said Sarah Walker, director of Dragon mission management at SpaceX. “While the assembly level design is uniquely developed to this mission, we intentionally use building blocks of components that Nasa is familiar with and that SpaceX has extensive experience building and operating.” No exact date has been given for the deorbiting of the ISS, though most of the international partners have committed to operations until 2030.