NASA plans for space station's demise with new SpaceX "Deorbit Vehicle"
CBSN
SpaceX is building a souped-up version of its cargo Dragon spacecraft to drive the International Space Station out of orbit for a controlled re-entry and breakup over an uninhabited stretch of ocean when the lab is finally retired in the 2030 timeframe, NASA and company officials said Wednesday.
The ISS Deorbit Vehicle, or DV, will be a custom-built, one-of-a-kind spacecraft needed to make sure the space station re-enters the atmosphere at the precise place and in the proper orientation to insure any wreckage that survives the 3,000-degree heat of re-entry will crash harmlessly into the sea.
In late June, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract valued at up to $843 million to build the deorbit vehicle, which will be owned and operated by the space agency. The heavy-lift rocket needed to launch it has not yet been selected, but NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has asked Congress for a total of about $1.5 billion to carry out the entire de-orbit operation.
Israel's prime minister vowed to "open the gates of hell" if Hamas does not return all its hostages and praised President Trump's "bold vision for Gaza's future."
Irish jockey Michael O'Sullivan died on Sunday after suffering injuries in a fall during a race earlier this month, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board said. He was 24.
A hockey match between rivals the United States and Canada descended into chaos from the moment the puck was dropped as three fights broke out in the first nine seconds.
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Top-ranked tennis player Jannik Sinner accepted a three-month ban in a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency and said Saturday the agreement ends a case that was "hanging over me" since his two positive doping tests nearly a year ago.
Pope Francis slept well during a first night in the hospital after being admitted with a respiratory tract infection, the Vatican said Saturday.
American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, was among three hostages released by Hamas on Saturday morning after being held in captivity in Gaza for almost a year and half. The other two hostages handed over to Red Cross personnel in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis were Israelis Sasha Troufanov, 29, and Iair Horn, 46.
Hitmen gunned down an Ecuadoran air force colonel Friday in a city hard hit by drug crime that has turned the once-peaceful South American country into one of the most violent, authorities said.
Vice President JD Vance hammered home the United States demand that the NATO alliance step up defense spending on Friday, ahead of a security meeting in Europe at a time of intense concern and uncertainty over the Trump administration's foreign policy.
The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman was in a collision with a merchant vessel in the Mediterranean Sea near Egypt, the Navy said Thursday. There were no reports of injuries or flooding after the collision, a Navy spokesperson said in a statement.
Australia protested Thursday what it described as an "unsafe and unprofessional" interaction over the South China Sea where a Chinese fighter is accused of releasing flares that endangered an Australian military surveillance plane.
A record number of journalists were killed in 2024, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report released Wednesday.
Luxembourg authorities seized almost a ton of cocaine hidden in a stone crusher "of Colombian origin" in a record bust for the small European state, prosecutors said on Wednesday.