NASA Says ISS Coming Down in 2016

Although the International Space Station won't be completed until the end of 2010, NASA is already planning to plunge the station into the Pacific in 2016.

A Washington Post article is reporting that NASA plans to close shop on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015, and dump the entire station into the Pacific Ocean in 2016. Even more, the space station is only now nearing completion, costing taxpayers and "government partners" a whopping $100 billion to construct thus far. Orbiting just 220 miles above the earth, the space station has serves as a symbol of humanity's desire to reach beyond the atmosphere, to eventually explore and conquer its rugged neighbors. Now NASA wants to bring that icon down in a huge fiery ball.

According to Michael T. Suffrendini, the NASA space station program manager, NASA is steadfast in its plans to de-orbit the space station, throwing away years of progress and taxpayer money. "In the first quarter of 2016, we'll prep and de-orbit the spacecraft," said Suffredini.

Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)

The Mission Objectives of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) include confirming the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon’s South Pole. The identification of water is very important to the future of human activities on the Moon. LCROSS will excavate the permanently dark floor of one of the Moon’s polar craters with two heavy impactors in 2009 to test the theory that ancient ice lies buried there. The impact will eject material from the crater’s surface to create a plume that specialized instruments will be able to analyze for the presence of water (ice and vapor), hydrocarbons and hydrated materials.