“It’s hard to think about. The station will be in orbit well over the next year and a half, and so thinking about our priorities and what we need to get home is a big question,” Landon said. “I’ve probably got a better appreciation today for the Legacy and the Legacy and the other hardware to bring home, so that’ll be an interesting discussion as far as weight and volume.”
Demand for storage at the remaining ride home for heritage and conservation purposes would compete with the station’s primary purpose: conducting and returning science.
Fish-eye image of the inside of a fully packed SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, such as the one used to launch supplies to the International Space Station and return equipment to Earth.
Credit: NASA
Fish-eye image of the inside of a fully packed SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, such as the one used to launch supplies to the International Space Station and return equipment to Earth.
Credit: NASA
“We obviously want to continue using the International Space Station until that final moment when Ryan turns off the lights and sends things back home, so there will be drivers to maintain as much science capability as possible on those final return vehicles,” said Michael Roberts, chief scientist at the ISS National Lab. “But it’s no secret to anyone that there is tremendous scientific knowledge there, as well as historical knowledge, that can be retained by the return of some of the equipment that is there.”
So the chances of returning everything everyone wants from the ISS before the shipment ends are slim.
The data that’s already on the ground, as well as the hardware that’s been brought back over the past two and a half decades, will help fill in some of those gaps, but even more important will be capturing the stories of the people who put the space station there and built it into the unique facility it is today, said Brian Odom, NASA’s chief historian.
“That window of opportunity is going to close so quickly. Let’s bring historians together. Let’s look at this program, let’s look at the people who are familiar, let’s bring them into contact with practitioners, engineers, scientists, astronauts and really determine what the big themes have been,” Odom said, calling for an oral history initiative. “Let’s use this opportunity to do that, and then begin the process of crafting a narrative.”
Disclosure: The editor of CollectSpace, the author of this article, was also a panel member representing the worldwide community of space memorabilia collectors.
Watch all three Saving ISS Heritage panel discussions from the 2026 ASCEND conference on CollectSpace.
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