NASA has released a request for proposal from U.S. industry for the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV), a spacecraft meant to safely deorbit the International Space Station as part of its planned retirement.
As cool as those missions would be, we can go to the moon or Mars anytime. We only have until the end of the ISS’ life to park it into a safe orbit, and doing so means one of the most significant pieces of early spaceflight technology is preserved for future generations to put into a museum. In 3000 years, future generations will care more about being able to see the earliest preserved space station than the first mission to Mars being in 2043 instead of 2037
You’re welcome to your opinion, though I think it’s extremely shortsighted. It also strips down the value of historic artifacts to merely their tourist appeal. You say “altar full of relics” seemingly to dismiss the notion, but literal relics are a crucial reason why we know anything about our history at all. I’d like to think that historians of the future, at a minimum, would appreciate it if the ISS was boosted to a stable orbit instead of burning up.
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As cool as those missions would be, we can go to the moon or Mars anytime. We only have until the end of the ISS’ life to park it into a safe orbit, and doing so means one of the most significant pieces of early spaceflight technology is preserved for future generations to put into a museum. In 3000 years, future generations will care more about being able to see the earliest preserved space station than the first mission to Mars being in 2043 instead of 2037
Removed by mod
You’re welcome to your opinion, though I think it’s extremely shortsighted. It also strips down the value of historic artifacts to merely their tourist appeal. You say “altar full of relics” seemingly to dismiss the notion, but literal relics are a crucial reason why we know anything about our history at all. I’d like to think that historians of the future, at a minimum, would appreciate it if the ISS was boosted to a stable orbit instead of burning up.
Removed by mod