Overview

• NASA confirms plans to deorbit the International Space Station in 2030, with reporting indicating a controlled reentry to a remote Pacific zone.
• NASA issued a draft Phase 2 partnerships call in September 2025 for commercial stations able to host four people for at least 30 days, followed by safety certification for service purchases.
• The agency has invested more than $400 million to accelerate privately owned, commercially operated low‑Earth orbit destinations before ISS retirement.
• The ISS has supported over 4,000 experiments during about 25 years of continuous habitation by crews from the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada, and recently India.
• If the ISS’s continuous occupation ends, China’s Tiangong would become the longest continuously inhabited space station in operation.