Someday, going from low earth orbit to the moon will become just as routine — and probably even cheaper — than getting into earth orbit, and that will “solve” the maintenance and supply problem. My memory isn’t *that* good, but a lot of such things were talked and written about back in the 1950s at the dawn of the First Space Age, and the engineering concepts haven’t changed that much. Again, once you do the hard work of getting into low earth orbit, getting to the moon is pretty much a piece of cake in comparison.

Who knows, in another few decades, even NASA bureaucrats may rediscover this amazing concept.

PS — While the SSTO concept (cf, the X-33) didn’t exactly pan out, G. Harry Stein’s book Halfway to Anywhere: Achieving America’s Destiny in Space, is still very much a good read.

https://www.amazon.com/Halfway-Anywhere-Achieving-Americas-Destiny/dp/0871318059

and a nice review essay that sounds like Robert might have penned it:

https://fee.org/articles/halfway-to-anywhere-achieving-americas-destiny-in-space-by-g-harry-stine/

Take heart. The Second Space Age *is* being driven by the private sector, and even the brain-dead politicians can’t change the laws of physics however much they might believe that they can.

So by moving them out of the Earths orbit would make maintenance and resupply dang near impossible.

But the modules could one by one be replaced, maintained and updated by a private firm much easier.

The truss, docking collars and solar panels could then be used until they literally fall apart.

Indeed, why *not* move the ISS — or at least significant parts of it — to a lunar orbit?

Quoting Robert A. Heinlein, “Get to low-Earth orbit and you’re halfway to anywhere in the solar system.” And with the moon, you are a
*lot* closer than halfway.

So, as pzatchok suggests, solicit proposals for adaptive reuse instead. From an engineering perspective (help from Robert and others needed), what factors would mitigate against moving the ISS in whole or in parts to a lunar orbit, and how much fuel would be required for this kind of orbital transfer*? In any case, at least for the moment, it sounds like another job for SpaceX.

*For those with good memories, Homer Hickam, Jr. wrote a novel back in 1999 based on what it would take to fly a Shuttle from low earth orbit to the moon, and his engineering analysis seemed pretty sound. Sadly, nobody took the bait, and we have yet to send humans back to the moon. Strangely, nobody even made a movie based on his rollicking, barn-burner of a book. Too bad.

But, once again, the lovely folks in NASA / the Biden Administration would probably be horrified at the prospect at anything that would give the evil, racist, planet-killing United States any advantage in the race to open up the Solar System to human endeavor. No, better to just let the ISS burn up as a “symbol” of how we are expiating our sins.

ISS should not be chunked.