International space agency partners have officially cleared a joint plan to deorbit the International Space Station using two Russian Progress cargo ships and a U.S. Deorbit Vehicle. Announcing the multilateral agreement, state space agency Roscosmos confirmed that primary guidance and propulsion responsibilities will be split between U.S. and Russian craft, ensuring a controlled and safe end to the station’s orbital operations.
The station’s planned orbital lowering will begin in 2028, with the deorbit process expected to take about two years, Roscosmos said. The sequence will combine natural atmospheric drag, deliberate altitude reductions using existing propulsive systems and a final targeted re-entry maneuver. NASA’s published transition framework calls for the crew to return to Earth before operators command the large final burn. The maneuver is intended to direct surviving debris into an unpopulated ocean area and limit risk to people and property, rather than allowing the station to make an uncontrolled descent from low Earth orbit at the end of operations.
Russia and the United States also plan to draft a bilateral agreement defining how Roscosmos and NASA will divide responsibility during the operation. NASA describes safe disposal as a shared obligation of the five agencies that operate the station: NASA, Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The program establishes the vehicle combination, while the planned bilateral document will specify operational accountability between the Russian and U.S. agencies throughout the multi-stage disposal process. No crew will remain aboard for the final re-entry burn under NASA’s published decommissioning sequence.
Five agencies share responsibility for safe disposal
NASA selected SpaceX in June 2024 to develop and deliver the uncrewed U.S. Deorbit Vehicle after studies found that existing station propulsion and Progress spacecraft alone lacked sufficient margin for the planned controlled re-entry. A U.S. Government Accountability Office assessment published in July 2026 said NASA set the project’s cost baseline at $1.2 billion in February. That total includes the reported $843 million SpaceX contract, a future launch vehicle procurement and NASA workforce costs needed to certify the spacecraft for docking and station operations. The delivery readiness baseline is October 2028, with launch targeted for mid-2029 for the mission.
The U.S. vehicle combines a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft equipped for rendezvous and docking with an enlarged trunk carrying the propulsion capability required for descent. Design work has included changes to the Dragon power system, additional shielding and work on the trunk’s solar-array configuration, according to the GAO. The vehicle is scheduled to dock safely with the station about 18 months before re-entry and remain attached through the final phase. NASA will own and operate it, while the agency’s Launch Services Program will separately procure the rocket needed to place it in orbit and reach the complex.
Final re-entry sequence will take about two years
The International Space Station began assembly in 1998 and has maintained a continuous human presence since November 2000. The complex has a mass of about 430,000 kilograms, spans roughly the area of a football field and operates in low Earth orbit at about 415 kilometers. Its systems are technically interdependent: the Russian segment and Progress vehicles provide propulsion for reboosts, debris-avoidance maneuvers and dynamic attitude control, while U.S. gyroscopes handle routine orientation throughout normal station operations. Those relationships underpin the joint architecture set out in the ISS deorbit plan and require detailed coordination across the participating agencies.
NASA’s current transition schedule prioritizes retiring the station and conducting re-entry maneuvers in 2030. A June 2026 GAO report said the agency plans a 2027 assessment of whether to launch the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle in 2029 or extend station operations. The agency has said structural analyses support operation through 2028, with further reviews addressing the period beyond that date. Under the approved multinational program disclosed by Roscosmos, orbital lowering starts in 2028 and continues for approximately two years, culminating at the program’s end in a controlled atmospheric breakup designed to place debris within a remote ocean footprint.