International Space Station program ocean was found to be possible only with Russia's assistance. At the time ISS was launched, the Russian Space Agency had experience from de-orbiting the Salyut 4, 5, 6, and 7 space stations, while NASA's first intentional controlled de-orbit of a satellite (the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory) would not occur for another two years. NASA currently has no spacecraft capable of de-orbiting the ISS at the time of decommissioning. Skylab, the only space station built and launched entirely by the US, decayed from orbit slowly over 5 years, and no attempt was made to de-orbit the station using a deorbital
Origins of the International Space Station Almaz ("Diamond") stations. The first MIR-2 module was launched in 1986 by an Energia heavy-lift expendable launch system. The Energia's core stage and boosters worked properly, however the Polyus spacecraft fired its engines to insert itself into orbit whilst in an incorrect orientation due to a programming error, and re-entered the atmosphere. The planned station changed several times, but Zvezda was always the service module, containing the station's critical systems such as life support. The station would have used the Buran spaceplane and Proton rockets to lift new modules into orbit. The spaceframe of Zvezda, also called DOS-8 serial number