I guess the international space station belongs to them now since they are the only ones that can get to it.
If it is abandoned and not to be used again, it would be irresponsible to allow it to possibly fall on a populated area.
after it stops operation.
It should not be allowed to go out of commission. It should evolve, grow, adapt, change over time. New modules can be added, old ones removed. Much easier to build with something to start with then to start from scratch once again.
Good thing the Ruskies don’t have to deal with the EPA and Greenpeace. That thing is bound to be full of hazardous materials.
There must be a way to blame Bush.
Well, in any event, it's one of the last items in the Hopi prophecies.
"You will hear of a dwelling house in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people shall cease. These are the signs of the great destruction that is coming."
- 9th part of the Hopi Blue Star (or Blue Kachina) prophecy, by White Feather
It might be compared to a man driving his Rolls Royce for a few years and then dumping it into the ocean.
Can we at least save the cr@pper?
They’ll probably send us a bill for waste disposal.
Why not put some rocket engines on it, dock a lander on it and fly it to the moon. Then upgrade it and fly it to Mars. It could have a real purpose. By the way Ruskies bite me!
“Screw those commie bastards, and screw their little wussy space station.”
There goes another $200 billion or more up in smoke.
America is most successful nation in the history of mankind.
Yet for the last twenty years, and for most of the last 50 years, 99% of people elected to federal office have been buffons at best. Most are outright crooks, traitors, perverts, rapists, racists, mental incompetents and idiots.
This country went from zero to putting men on the moon in less than 10 years, using relays, vacuum tubes and mechanical calculators.
Those were heady days to live through!
It seemed there wasn’t anything we Americans couldn’t do.
But somewhere along the line we lost our vision and have let venal politicians turn us against each other.
Since that time we have invested a fortune in building a low orbit space station and now we can’t even get to the space station without begging rides from our competitors.
We need new leadership and it will not be found in either of the two political parties. They have a deathgrip on our future and serve only themselves.
≤}B^)
According to Wikipedia, the ISS was going to be de-orbited in 2016 per Bush 41’s policy, but in 2010 Obama extended the time period to 2020. So sounds like US set the date.
First, for all you bi#ching about NASA and DoD expenditures on technologies, without their leadership and innovation you would be typing your message on an IBM Selectric and putting it in the mail tomorrow instead of the computer you are working on. Neither organization is perfect but NASA was an organization we once pointed to with pride and DoD is the last of the gov’t organizations that displays any semblance of integrity while keeping us safe.
Second, why did Russia make this statement today, because they can. We have an impotent President that Russia will toy with for the duration of his tenure. He is weak and has placed the US over a barrel. If Russia wanted to bring the ISS down tomorrow, what could we do about it. We have no way to get to the ISS and this statement today is the first volley of extortion by Russia. It won’t be the last.
For you others that think the F22 gives us air superiorty, it does in the short term. On the path we are on with technological investment, it won’t when your grade school children are sending their kids to school.
NASA estimates the station has cost U.S. taxpayers $50 billion since 1994 — and overall, its price tag has been pegged at $100 billion by all member nations.
I once knew a German aristocrat from an old family whose name was Willhemn De Orbit.
Good riddance.