Many hundreds of billions of dollars were paid to haul all of that mass up the gravity well into orbit. And guess who spent all of that money? And guess who’d like to make a LOT MORE money?
Apart from the spent rockets (now sitting at the bottom of Point Nemo) and fuel, most of ISS was clearly expensive and versatile and well-designed. And VERY likely to be worth recycling.
Instead, send a rocket up there to LIFT ISS into a stable parking orbit that won’t decay in thousands of years. By then somebody will have found a use for most of it. If ‘space-faring’ is really the goal, and not just a gimmick to put money into private pockets.
Using it to make a spectacular fireworks show is an ENORMOUS waste. The Egyptians didn’t dynamite the pyramids … a lucrative decision.
Hmmm… private operators’ space stations in low earth orbit. What could go wrong?
I wanted to vomit when I read that.
My bet: a Starship variant. Send it up, refuel it as needed, and you’ve got a metric shit ton of de-orbit push. Starship will have been to the moon by then, it’ll be a proven platform.
Hell, use a fleet and you could reland the ISS if you wanted it back on Earth intact.
