NASA and SpaceX Plan to Sink Space Station in Sea in Future

July 17th, 2024

SpaceX, a company that sends rockets into space, has a big job to do. They want to move the International Space Station. The station is like a science lab in space, and it has been there for a very long time. NASA, which is America's space agency, and SpaceX have decided to send the station into the ocean in about ten years. The space station is old and might not work well after 2030. Because of this, NASA wants new space stations to be made by different companies. These new stations will let people keep doing science in space, and NASA can then focus on going to the Moon and Mars. Taking the station apart and bringing it back to Earth would be too difficult and dangerous. It could also make lots of space junk. So, they chose to have a spacecraft push it safely into the ocean. The spaceship used for this will be special. It will have a lot of engines and fuel. When the time comes for the station to end, the astronauts will leave and go home. Then, the spaceship will make sure the old station lands in the ocean, far away from people. Before, some space stations have fallen out of space without any control. One even dropped parts in Australia. But this time, they want to do it the right way. NASA also hopes to save some small things from the station to show in museums. But they understand that they can't keep the big parts of the station. It's better to bring it all down safely. The work that SpaceX and NASA are doing is very important to make sure space is clean and safe for the future.

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💭 Discussion Questions

. What is the main job of SpaceX mentioned in the article?

. Why does NASA want to move the International Space Station into the ocean?

. What does NASA hope to do with some small things from the space station?

📖 Vocabulary

🌐 Cultural context

SpaceX is a private company in the United States that launches spacecraft. NASA is the U.S. government agency responsible for the nation's space program. They collaborate on space missions. The International Space Week is an event hosted by the United Nations to celebrate contributions to space science and technology.

🧠 Further reading

List of commercial space stations

Right now, people can fly to the International Space Station (ISS), but there are no space stations just for businesses. But, there are plans to make new ones! One plan is to build parts of the ISS to use for business and for people who want to travel to space for fun. This is being done by a company called Axiom Space. They started working on this idea with NASA's support in 2020. These parts will be added to the ISS first, but later they will become their own space station called Axiom Station. The first part of this space station might be sent up into space after 2026. They want to send up to three parts up there and let people stay in them. Another plan is by two companies, Blue Origin and Sierra Space. They want to create a place in space called Orbital Reef. Think of it as a park for different space businesses. They want to make it easy for people to do all sorts of things in space, like science, making things, or even having their own spot up there. This park is going to be ready for all sorts of space jobs and activities.

Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee

There is a group called the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee, or IADC for short. This group is made up of different countries that work together. Their job is to look at the problem of space junk, which are pieces of old satellites and rockets that float around the Earth. They started in 1993. This group shares information and does research. They also think of ways to stop space junk from happening. In 2020, they made a plan to help. This plan says each space project should have its own way to deal with space junk. The plan includes how to manage space junk, how to be safe, what to do if something goes wrong, and how to throw away old spacecraft the right way. Many countries are part of the IADC. These countries have their own space agencies, like NASA from America, the European Space Agency, and others from Italy, France, China, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. They all work together on this important job to keep space clean and safe.

Chinese reusable experimental spacecraft

China made a special kind of spaceship that can be used many times. It's called the Chinese reusable experimental spacecraft. This spaceship first went into space on September 4, 2020. This is a big deal for China because it's the first time they have a spaceship like this. When it goes up into space, it looks like a normal satellite inside a rocket. But when it comes back to Earth, it lands like a plane on a runway. It does this landing by itself, without people helping from the ground. We don't know what this spaceship looks like. Some people think it might look like the X-37B spaceplane from the United States, which is another kind of spaceship that also lands like a plane. The spaceship had its first trip in 2020. It was sent up into space from the Gobi Desert in China with a Long March 2F rocket. The people who made the news in China said that the spaceship would spend some time in space. Then it would come back and land in China. This trip was to see if the spaceship could be used again and again while being safe. Some people who know a lot about space say that this spaceship is part of something bigger called the Shenlong spaceplane, which is like the X-37B from the United States. Two days after going to space, the spaceship came back to Earth safely. It landed at a place in China's desert. After it landed, someone took a picture from a satellite. In the picture, you can see a very long runway where the spaceship landed.