SpaceX wins NASA contract for ISS re-entry destruction

NASA will send a spacecraft from Elon Musk's SpaceX to guide the destruction of the International Space Station later this decade, the agency announced Wednesday.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration awarded an $843 million contract to SpaceX to build the so-called “American Deorbitation Vehicle.” The spacecraft will be designed to guide the football-field-sized research laboratory back into Earth's atmosphere after retiring in 2030.

The SpaceX-built vehicle will effectively destroy the ISS by pushing the station into reentry from orbit.

“It is critical to prepare for the safe and responsible deorbiting of the International Space Station in a controlled manner,” NASA said in a press release, and the U.S. deorbiter is needed to “ensure that risks to populated areas are avoided.”

NASA did not specify whether SpaceX's design for the U.S. deorbiter will be based on any of the company's existing spacecraft, such as its Dragon capsules. SpaceX and NASA did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on the design.

The United States, along with four partner international agencies representing Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan, has been preparing for the eventual closure of the International Space Station, which has been manned since 2000. The International Space Station, created primarily As a manned research laboratory, it has seen more than 3,300 experiments performed in microgravity, including research not possible on Earth, such as medical science and technology demonstrations.

But the ISS is aging, and NASA and its main partner Roscosmos are unable to solve a growing problem of microscopic leaks on the station.

NASA published a study on Wednesday analyzing why it decided to intentionally destroy the ISS in a controlled re-entry. The agency evaluated various alternatives, including dismantling the station in orbit or attempting to raise the ISS to a higher orbit with a large spacecraft such as SpaceX's Starship.

“The space station is a unique artifact whose historical value cannot be overestimated. NASA took this into account when determining whether any part of the station could be salvaged for historical preservation or technical analysis,” the agency wrote.

Ultimately, the agency's study determined that any attempt to preserve or reuse the ISS was technically or economically unfeasible. NASA noted the possibility that the ISS's lifespan could be extended beyond 2030, but that remains to be determined and requires an agreement with its international partner agencies.

NASA is planning to replace the ISS with private space stations and is helping fund the development of American companies through the Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program.

The development and construction of the ISS totaled about $150 billion and costs NASA about $4 billion to operate each year, so the agency sees privately built space stations as a way to replace the ISS at a fraction of the cost.