Elon Musk calls for deorbit of International Space Station as soon as possible

Elon Musk’s latest space-related hammer throw is to call for it to be deorbited as soon as two years from now.

In posts to X, Musk said, “It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the (space station). It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let’s go to Mars.”

When pressed about whether or not he meant to up the current schedule that calls for it to be safely brought down after 2030, Musk said, “The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible. I recommend two years from now.”

SpaceX has a contract to build a deorbit vehicle based on its Dragon spacecraft to do the deed, but also has potentially several crewed trips to the space station for both NASA and commercial companies visiting the station as well.

SpaceX also flies cargo missions twice a year to the ISS.

One of Musk’s buddies, billionaire Jared Isaacman, who has flown twice to space with SpaceX, is President Trump’s nominee to become the next head of NASA.

Musk has been stumping to refocus NASA’s energy towards pursuing his dreams of building a colony on Mars, and the future of NASA’s Artemis program, with its plans focused in the near-term on going back to the moon, have raised questions about where Trump’s plans are headed for NASA.

Boeing, which builds the core stage for the Space Launch System rocket that’s designed for Artemis missions, has already prepared for up to 400 layoffs if Artemis plans change.

Boeing also stands to lose out if the space station is taken down earlier than 2030 as it has its beleaguered Starliner spacecraft supposed to share astronaut taxi service with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.

Boeing has a contract to fly up six times if it gets certified, but if the space station comes down by 2027, then NASA would have no need for most of those missions.

To date, SpaceX has flown 10 crewed missions to the space station for NASA as well as three others for commercial company Axiom Space on its fleet of four Crew Dragon spacecraft.

The next flight for NASA is slated for mid-March, while another Axiom Space mission is scheduled for later this spring.

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