Point Nemo Drew 260 Spacecraft Since 1971 as ISS Faces 420-Tonne Pacific Reentry
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 5
Point Nemo Drew 260 Spacecraft Since 1971 as ISS Faces 420-Tonne Pacific Reentry
3 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 5
Summary
More than 260 spacecraft have been deliberately brought down near Point Nemo since 1971, making the South Pacific site the world’s main spacecraft cemetery.
2,688 km from its nearest scraps of land and over 4,000 metres above the seabed, the oceanic pole of inaccessibility offers the widest low-risk reentry zone because almost nobody lives, flies or sails nearby.
400 km overhead, ISS astronauts can at times be closer to Point Nemo than any person on Earth’s surface, underscoring how isolated the coordinate at 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W is.
420 tonnes of ISS hardware are expected to be guided into the wider South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area at the end of the station’s life, likely the largest controlled reentry ever attempted.