International Space Station to Crash Land in 2020

Partners of the International Space Station (including Russia and NASA) announced final plans for the ISS yesterday: letting it crash land in the Pacific Ocean after it is decommissioned in 2020.

Although it's taken over 10 years to build the ISS up to what it is today, now that NASA's shuttle program has been shut down and Russia plans to discontinue the Soyuz craft in 2015, there's no reason to let the ISS float around in space along with other space junk. Thankfully, there's a future for privatized space travel, but they won't be using the ISS to get from Earth to point B.

Feeling nostalgic? Check out some images of the ISS in the gallery!