The benefit of showing you can crash things - SpaceX picked to splash the ISS

[Gyro]

SpaceX have been contracted to bring down the ISS into the Pacific (hopefully!) early in the next decade:

Musk's SpaceX hired to destroy ISS space station

Nasa has selected Elon Musk's SpaceX company to bring down the International Space Station at the end of its life.

The California-based company will build a vehicle capable of pushing the 430-tonne orbiting platform into the Pacific Ocean early in the next decade.

A contract for the work, valued at up to $843m (£668m), was announced on Wednesday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cnl02jl5pzno

[SeanB]

So take a Falcon heavy, and run the middle core at low power, so you get it, along with the upper stage, which is basically an extra fuel tank with a docking adaptor, and get it to the ISS orbit. Then you do something not done since assembly, and start to move docking port, and attach the booster core there, and remove that module, moving the docking port into this now vacant position. Then the core stage does a deorbit burn, and aims to land semi softly at a point in the South Pacific, using the grid fins as long as they function to guide, and then using the reentry to burn all the parts up. Uses one per section, and the outer boosters return for reuse, dismantling the ISS over a period of a month or so, depending if they can keep the remaining parts of the ISS operating, though you can do a few dozen tons at a time.

[ejeffrey]

Stolen from elsewhere: they could have just contracted Boeing to "definitely keep it in orbit" with the same result.

[coppercone2]

I think the ISS is one of the best things that was built and its at least a good symbolic reason to try to maintain peace in the world.

how about contracting the boiler makers union to put some reinforcement on it and keep it up there

At this point the ISS is considered poorly engineered, because of its age. Usually all things welders work on are poorly engineered and they actually have to redo alot of engineering. Maybe it would just take a few struts

their engineering analysis won't show them what some people banging on it with mallets and prybars can tell you (real world structural engineering)

[Kim Christensen]

Kerbals would have boosted it's orbit until they got a Mun Moon encounter, and turned it into a Moon station.   

[coppercone2]

they need to develop the space contractor van, the space work bench and like stabilizers so they can work up there

[coppice]

Every kilo that reaches orbit has cost so much it seems very sad to see it come down again.

[Bud]

Two hundred years from now deep divers will be wondering what the fuck is that thing on the Pacific ocean floor, how did it float on the water.

[ejeffrey]

Every kilo that reaches orbit has cost so much it seems very sad to see it come down again.

The bright side is, launch cost per kg has gone down by more than 10x in that time.

[tszaboo]

I think the ISS is one of the best things that was built and its at least a good symbolic reason to try to maintain peace in the world.

how about contracting the boiler makers union to put some reinforcement on it and keep it up there

At this point the ISS is considered poorly engineered, because of its age. Usually all things welders work on are poorly engineered and they actually have to redo alot of engineering. Maybe it would just take a few struts

their engineering analysis won't show them what some people banging on it with mallets and prybars can tell you (real world structural engineering)

Then it symbolizes very nicely that we will build a new one, this time without russia.

Stolen from elsewhere: they could have just contracted Boeing to "definitely keep it in orbit" with the same result.

Or sell it to some studio to turn it into a reality show.

[Stray Electron]

Or sell it to some studio to turn it into a reality show.

  Brilliant!  A new "reality" show but this time we get to see who is allowed to leave that island in the sky and who will be forced to remain behind!   I vote that we start by putting ALL of the Kardashians onto the station.