An Excruciatingly Detailed Breakdown of How NASA Plans to Destroy the ISS In March, the space agency released its 2024 budget proposal, which included $180 million for developing a deorbit capability for the ISS. At the time, NASA had estimated its ISS tug would cost around $1 billion in total. NASA had previously suggested using Russia’s Progress cargo spacecraft to deorbit the ISS, but growing tensions with Roscosmos has caused NASA to reconsider. Instead, NASA tasked SpaceX with designing a new deorbit vehicle as part of a $843 million contract. The deorbit vehicle will be based on Dragon, which transports crew and cargo to the ISS. During a news briefing in July, SpaceX’s director of Dragon mission management, Sarah Walker, noted that the Dragon spacecraft will be outfitted with a new trunk section that can carry additional propellant, as well as engines, avionics, and new ways of power generation specifically fit for the task of deorbiting the space station, Space.com reported at the time. “The data that we’re going to collect from this reboost and attitude control demonstration will be very helpful … and this data is going to lead to future capability, mainly the U.S deorbit vehicle,” Jared Metter, director of flight reliability at SpaceX, told reporters during the press conference, according to Space.com. Unlike the Dragon that will be used for Friday’s reboost, the deorbit vehicle will go down with the ship. SpaceX “will develop the deorbit spacecraft, NASA will take ownership after development and operate it throughout its mission,” NASA wrote as part of its contract agreement with SpaceX. “Along with the space station, it is expected to destructively breakup as part of the re-entry process.” The thrust maneuver has to be strong enough to bring the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit, or an oval-shaped path, so that it’s properly captured by the atmosphere. This will ensure a controlled descent through the atmosphere so that the remaining fragments of the space station end up in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean. The upcoming test is the first step in planning the careful destruction of the space station, and time for SpaceX to prove that it’s got what it takes.