Right now, as you're reading this, seven or more people are hurtling through the vacuum of space at five miles per second. They’re inside a pressurized tin can about the size of a football field. It’s the International Space Station. And honestly, the International Space Station now is in a bit of a mid-life crisis—or maybe more of a retirement-home-planning phase. It’s been up there since 1998. Think about that. The tech on some of those modules is older than the iPhone. It’s older than TikTok. It’s older than some of the astronauts currently living on it.
We take it for granted. Every 90 minutes, it circles the Earth. People look up at the night sky, see that bright, fast-moving dot, and think, "Oh, cool, NASA's still at it." But the reality inside those modules is way more chaotic and stressful than the pretty pictures of sunrises from the Cupola would have you believe.
Why the International Space Station Now Is Showing Its Age
The ISS wasn't built to last forever. NASA and its partners—Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, and CSA—originally designed it for a 15-year lifespan. We are well past the "best by" date. Lately, the news has been a bit grim regarding air leaks. Specifically, the Russian Zvezda module has been a headache. There’s this tiny, persistent leak in a transfer tunnel. NASA’s Associate Administrator Jim Free has been pretty vocal about it, and while they've managed to isolate the section, it’s a glaring reminder that metal fatigue is a real thing. Imagine a soda can that's been shaken and squeezed for 25 years. Eventually, cracks appear.
It isn't just the leaks.
The solar arrays are being upgraded with iROSAs (International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays) because the old ones were degrading. Space is a brutal environment. You’ve got extreme temperature swings—250 degrees Fahrenheit in the sun and minus 250 in the shade. That kind of thermal cycling makes everything brittle. Plus, there’s the constant threat of "space junk." Even a fleck of paint hitting a window at 17,500 mph can cause significant damage.
The Politics of a Divided Orbit
You can't talk about the International Space Station now without talking about Russia. For decades, the ISS was the "great peacemaker." It was the one place where Washington and Moscow actually got along. But after 2022, things got weird. Russia announced they’d be leaving "after 2024," then they moved that date to 2028. NASA is committed until 2030.
It’s a messy divorce.
The station is literally physically split into the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS). They need each other. The Russians provide the propulsion and re-boost capabilities—essentially the "engine" that keeps the station from falling into the atmosphere. The Americans provide the power—the "electricity" from those massive solar wings. You can't just unclip one half and walk away. If Russia leaves early, the whole thing might literally fall out of the sky unless NASA can get a reliable "tug" ready in time.
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The New Players in the Game
While the ISS is aging, it’s not the only game in town anymore. China has Tiangong. It’s newer, shinier, and they don't have to deal with the bureaucratic nightmare of fifteen different countries arguing over who pays for the toilet repairs.
Then there’s the commercial side.
Axiom Space is building their own modules. The plan is to attach them to the ISS, then eventually detach and become a free-flying private station. Basically, a space hotel for researchers and very rich tourists. We’re moving from a government-run monopoly on space habitats to a "landlord-tenant" model. NASA doesn't want to own a station anymore. They want to be one of many customers. It’s cheaper that way, theoretically.
Science That Actually Matters (Not Just Growing Lettuce)
People love to joke that all they do up there is grow space lettuce and take photos of hurricanes. But the International Space Station now is doing some heavy lifting in materials science and biology.
Microgravity is a superpower for chemists.
When you take gravity out of the equation, crystals grow differently. This is huge for the pharmaceutical industry. Merck, for example, has used the ISS to study Keytruda, a cancer drug. In space, they can create high-quality crystalline suspensions that are almost impossible to make on Earth. This could lead to drugs that are easier to administer—like a quick shot instead of hours of IV infusion.
Then there's "Tissue Chips." These are basically mini-organs on a chip. Scientists use them to see how human cells age or react to stress without having to test on actual humans in space. It turns out, being in space mimics the aging process on Earth, but on fast-forward. Your bones lose density. Your vision changes. Your cardiovascular system gets lazy because it doesn't have to pump blood against gravity. By studying this, we’re actually learning how to treat osteoporosis and heart disease back home.
The Trillion-Dollar Question: What Happens in 2030?
NASA recently awarded a contract to SpaceX—worth about $843 million—to build the "U.S. Deorbit Vehicle."
This is the grim part.
In 2030 (or maybe 2031 if they push it), they aren't going to let the ISS just drift. They’re going to intentionally drive it into the ocean. They’ll guide it down over a remote part of the Pacific called Point Nemo, the "spacecraft cemetery." It’s the furthest point from any land. Most of the station will burn up on re-entry, but huge chunks of titanium and hardened steel will splash down into the deep blue.
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It feels like a waste, doesn't it? All that history, billions of dollars, the only home humans have had off-planet for a quarter-century, just dumped in the sea. But there isn't really another choice. Bringing it back piece by piece would be more expensive than building a new one. It’s too big to leave in high orbit; it would eventually become a catastrophic debris risk.
Living on the ISS: It’s Not All Floating and Flips
If you think being an astronaut is glamorous, talk to Suni Williams or Butch Wilmore. They’ve been up there much longer than they originally planned due to the Boeing Starliner issues. Living on the International Space Station now means dealing with a lot of "housekeeping."
About 20% of an astronaut's time is just maintenance.
Fixing the CO2 scrubbers. Swapping out urine filters (yes, they recycle about 98% of all water, including sweat and pee). It’s noisy. There’s a constant hum of fans and pumps. If the fans stop, you die, because a bubble of your own exhaled CO2 will form around your head and suffocate you while you sleep. You have to exercise two hours a day just to keep your legs from turning into noodles.
But then, they get to the Cupola.
The Cupola is that seven-windowed dome that faces Earth. Astronauts say that seeing the "thin blue line" of the atmosphere changes you. It’s called the Overview Effect. You don't see borders. You don't see political squabbles. You just see a very fragile, very lonely marble in a very dark room.
What You Can Do to Follow Along
If you're interested in the International Space Station now, don't just wait for the big news headlines about leaks or SpaceX launches. There are better ways to engage with it before it’s gone.
- Download a Tracker: Use an app like "ISS Detector" or "Spot the Station." Since it's the third brightest object in the sky, you can see it with your naked eye. It looks like a steady, fast-moving airplane without blinking lights.
- Watch the Live Feed: NASA usually has a 24/7 YouTube stream from the station's external cameras. It’s weirdly meditative.
- Follow the Crew: Most astronauts are active on X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram. They post the real stuff—what the food looks like, how they cut their hair, and the weird science experiments they’re running.
- Check the NASA Schedule: Look for "Extravehicular Activities" (EVAs), also known as spacewalks. Watching people work on the outside of the station in real-time is the closest thing we have to a real-life sci-fi movie.
The International Space Station is the most complex engineering project in human history. It’s a miracle it works at all. While the end is in sight, the next few years will be its most critical. We’re transitioning from a government-led "pioneer" phase of space travel to a commercial "settler" phase. Whether that's a good thing depends on who you ask, but one thing is certain: we’re going to miss that bright dot when it’s gone.
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Keep an eye on the Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon flight schedules for 2025 and 2026. These "taxi" services are what keep the station breathing. Also, watch for the first Axiom module launch—that will be the first physical sign of the ISS's successor. The countdown to 2030 has already started, and every day those astronauts spend up there is a victory of grit over a very hostile vacuum.
For the most accurate, up-to-the-minute updates, always check the official NASA ISS blog. It’s where they post the daily logs of what the crew actually did that day, from fixing the plumbing to sequencing DNA. It's the best way to see the reality of life in low Earth orbit.