Congress advances bill requiring NASA to reconsider deorbiting space station

"Members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee voted to approve a NASA authorization bill this week, advancing legislation chock full of policy guidelines meant to give lawmakers a voice in the space agency's strategic direction. The committee met to "mark up" the NASA Reauthorization Act of 2026, adding more than 40 amendments to the bill before a unanimous vote to refer the legislation to the full House of Representatives."

"Another add-on to the authorization bill would require NASA to reassess whether to guide the International Space Station (ISS) toward a destructive atmospheric reentry after it is decommissioned in 2030. The space agency's current plan is to deorbit the space station in 2031 over the Pacific Ocean, where debris that survives the scorching reentry will fall into a remote, unpopulated part of the sea."

Members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee voted unanimously to approve a NASA authorization bill after adding more than 40 amendments and referred the legislation to the full House. The bill must still pass the House floor, win Senate approval, and receive the President's signature. One amendment authorizes steps toward a commercial deep space program using privately owned rockets and spacecraft. Another amendment directs NASA to reassess guiding the International Space Station toward destructive atmospheric reentry after retirement and to carry out an engineering analysis evaluating the technical, operational, and logistical viability of transferring and storing the ISS in a safe orbital harbor. The current plan remains deorbiting the ISS in 2031 over the remote Pacific Ocean, and the amendment does not change the 2030 retirement timeline.

Read at Ars Technica