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Thanks, that makes sense

There is a ton of external wiring and plumbing connecting modules, so it isn’t as easy as undocking one. Think about all the power and cooling connections that have to route to the truss, plus all the data lines between modules. The US segment and Russian segment are inextricably linked with all those external connections, and potentially even cold welded together at the mechanical interface.

So was the purpose of the modularity only to allow for it to be built piecemeal or is this congealing of the modules due to one-off repairs that accrued over time?

I remember seeing a concept for a Boeing space station that used inflatable modules and I thought at the time it seemed kinda like a evolution of the ISS’s modular concept. But your explanation make me wonder if a modular space station even makes sense (outside of the initial building phase)

Maybe this is a stupid question, but why does discussion of the ISS’s age always end up as an all-or-nothing debate? It’s modular so can’t we treat it like a Ship of Theseus and replace the modules one at a time?