Is the ISS Deorbiting? What Happens After 2030
Short answer: not yet, and not by surprise. The International Space Station is fully crewed and operating normally right now — you can watch it fly overhead live on this site. But NASA and its international partners do have a plan to retire the station, and it's worth understanding what that actually involves.
The plan, in plain terms
NASA and its partner agencies have targeted around 2030 for the ISS to end operations, with a final, controlled deorbit around 2031. This isn't a station "falling out of the sky" unexpectedly — it's a planned, engineered end-of-life, similar in concept to how Mir and other large spacecraft have been retired before.
How it will actually happen
NASA has contracted SpaceX to build a purpose-built U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV) — a spacecraft designed specifically to dock with the ISS and guide it through a controlled reentry. The plan is to steer the station into a remote, uninhabited stretch of ocean, generally the same area used for other large deorbited spacecraft over the decades (sometimes called the "spacecraft cemetery"), rather than an uncontrolled reentry over land.
Why retire it at all
The ISS has been continuously crewed since 2000, built from modules launched starting in 1998. Spacecraft structures and systems have a finite operational life, and after three decades in orbit, the station is approaching the point where continued operation becomes less practical than replacement. NASA's stated strategy is to transition to commercially operated space stations in low Earth orbit after the ISS retires, rather than building and operating the next station itself.
What this means for you right now
Nothing changes today. The station is still up there, still crewed, still orbiting Earth roughly every 90 minutes at around 400–420 km altitude. If anything, it's worth tracking it live while it's still flying — you're watching a spacecraft with a genuinely finite remaining lifespan, not an abstract piece of infrastructure.
Watch the ISS's real-time position and see who's aboard right now.
Open the live trackerRelated
- What is a TLE? — how the orbital data behind this tracker works.
- How ISS tracking works — TLEs, SGP4, and pass prediction.
- How to see the ISS — a first-timer’s spotting guide.
- Is the ISS visible tonight? — a live pass finder.
- A free, browser-based alternative to Spot the Station
