“There is very little incremental utility. Let’s go to Mars.”…

Summary

Elon Musk has called for the International Space Station (ISS) to be deorbited “as soon as possible,” suggesting a two-year timeline instead of NASA’s planned 2030 retirement.

His statement has sparked political backlash, particularly from Sen. Ted Cruz, who supports the ISS. NASA and international partners prefer keeping the ISS operational.

Musk’s push appears tied to redirecting NASA funding toward Mars exploration, potentially challenging plans for private space stations.

This move could further centralize US space efforts around SpaceX, impacting commercial space competition.

  • Phoenixz
    33·
    15 hours ago

    Don’t pay for this thing that is for everyone and gets science research done, pay that money to me instead! I’m not a government employee, I just am when I’m telling you what to do!

    I’ve said it for about a decade now and I’ll continue to say it: Elmo is an incompetent scammer.

    Jail him already. Had Trump not won, by his own words, he would have been in jail now. Oh the dreams.

  • cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
    16·
    18 hours ago

    Of course he wants any current or possible competition eliminated! Luckilly it’s not up to him or even the USA.

    It’s the international space station. Not USA space station

    • modifier
      32·
      24 hours ago

      Countercounterproposal: put them in orbit ASAP and keep them there.

      • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
        3·
        10 hours ago

        Counterpoint, fly them both to the ISS, get the two stranded astronauts back, then space them out of orbit but leave the station there.

      • Lemminary@lemmy.world
        7·
        22 hours ago

        Oopsies the station is decompressing quickly. Oh no what a terrible tragedy for the history books. One can dream.

        • modifier
          4·
          15 hours ago

          Oh, yeah, right. Space Station. I suppose you could put them inside of something for their orbit. I had something more straightforward in mind though. Just strap em to a rocket and let fly. Make them explorers of the solar system

  • Em Adespoton
    811·
    1 day ago

    As seen in the Ars comments, the Ars article is missing a bit of context.

    Musk got into a tweet war with the commander of the space station over whether Suni and Butch’s extended stay on the ISS was political. Musk eventually called him a mentally challenged idiot and then followed that up with a call for the ISS to be deorbited ASAP.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/20/elon-musk-iss-deorbit-00205268

    • wagesj45@fedia.io
      32·
      23 hours ago

      He didn’t call him “mentally challenged idiot” he fully called him “removed”.

    • Veedem@lemmy.worldEnglish
      53·
      1 day ago

      Well, THERES the context.

      Just another cry session from Musk after he got called out for his bullshit.

    • treadful@lemmy.zipEnglish
      24·
      1 day ago

      Thanks, that makes this all worse. Giant man-baby gets put in his place by someone better than him and he can’t handle it. So he breaks their toys.

  • zeroday@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    432·
    1 day ago

    Now, for legal purposes, let me say I’m not asking for or instructing anyone to do this. But at this point, I think Musk needs a visit from a Luigi-type stochastic terrorist. If one was about to kill oneself, and statistically, there’ll be people who read this who are, consider taking out Musk before you go. You’ll be a martyr and a celebrated hero across the internet. You’ll also be giving a massive gift to humankind.

    On a personal level, to anyone reading this: I’m sorry that we’re at this spot, it sucks.

  • aarRJaay@lemm.eeEnglish
    10·
    23 hours ago

    I can’t remember but who was it that had the contract to deorbit the ISS? Oh yeah, Spaz-X

    • Jon@lemm.eeEnglish
      41·
      1 day ago

      Nah space flight is cool! And my cousin who works at SpaceX is cool. Musk doesn’t need to be synonymous with space exploration.

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    91·
    1 day ago

    I mean, it’s not just the US that provides funding for that or contributed components. Russia, various European countries, Japan and Canada, I believe, all have some level of funding.

    kagis

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station_programme

    The ISS has been described as the most expensive single item ever constructed.[93] As of 2010, the total cost was US$150 billion. This includes NASA’s budget of $58.7 billion ($89.73 billion in 2021 dollars) for the station from 1985 to 2015, Russia’s $12 billion, Europe’s $5 billion, Japan’s $5 billion, Canada’s $2 billion, and the cost of 36 shuttle flights to build the station, estimated at $1.4 billion each, or $50.4 billion in total.

    Now, granted, Russia had already been talking about killing their support, maybe pulling their modules off to start a new space station for some time, so they’re probably more than fine with that.