system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
International Space Station end of mission plans?

With all its instrumentation and ability to gather data, would a good end of mission plan be to thrust the ISS on an escape velocity from orbit into deeper space to gather more data for us? 

It seems like a waste to destroy this thing with a re-entry or dismantling it.
gpt
The ISS is hideously massive, at about 450 metric tons. Orbiting at 7.7 km/s it's 2.5 km/s short of escape velocity. Even with a highly efficient rocket engine (450 seconds Isp) it would take 350 metric tons of fuel to send it away from Earth. Ion propulsion might be cheaper, but still far from feasible.

And why? The ISS would make a terrible space-probe. It's a station, designed to sustain and be sustained by six scientists performing experiments in LEO. Why would it have any experiments on board which can be performed autonomously AND would be specifically relevant away from Earth, if that's the exact opposite of what it was designed for? The few that might fit the bill definitely aren't worth lugging around all the rest of the station for.

Some components could be re-purposed for a new station, but even there you should be careful. Even (or perhaps especially) in space stuff will suffer various wear and tear. Your cheap second hand module could end up costing a whole lot more than you bargained for.