NASA plans to retire International Space Station in 2030
NASA has scheduled the International Space Station (ISS) to wrap up its mission in 2030, marking the end of a 32-year run.
Since launching its first pieces back in 1998, the ISS has stood as a symbol of teamwork between the US, Europe, Japan, Canada, and Russia—and it's kept humans living in space nonstop since November 2000.
What about all the research done on the ISS?
The ISS isn't just a cool place to float around—it's been home to over 4,000 experiments and more than 4,400 research papers.
Scientists there have made real progress on things like cancer drug development and artificial retinas.
After retirement, NASA will hand over future space research to commercial stations built by private companies like Axiom Space and Blue Origin—NASA has already put $400 million into making that happen.