Overview
- NASA's transition documents and a recent GAO report describe a staged retirement that lowers the ISS starting in 2028, brings a SpaceX‑supplied U.S. Deorbit Vehicle to dock in mid‑2029, and performs a final reentry burn around late 2030 or early 2031.
- The agency intends to target Point Nemo, a remote South Pacific 'spacecraft cemetery,' so surviving debris falls away from populated areas while most of the station vaporizes on reentry.
- Ocean groups led by The Ocean Foundation warned in late June 2026 that denser ISS components expected to reach the seafloor pose poorly studied risks to deep‑sea ecosystems and urged public disclosure of materials that may survive reentry.
- Experts and advocates say international rules leave a gap for intentional disposal on the high seas because the 1972 Space Liability Convention covers damage to states but offers no clear remediation obligations for dumping in international waters.
- There is no public evidence that NASA has completed a comprehensive environmental impact assessment or changed the published schedule, and campaigners are pressing for formal EIAs, material disclosure, and treaty‑level legal review before the deorbit proceeds.