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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.
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I hate the fact that anyone, anywhere, has to listen to what fElon’s “thoughts” on anything are.
Conflict of interest much?
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.
Incompetent? How much more competent could one get at toppling a country and consuming all it’s money?
Orders of magnitude more competent. He could’ve come in there with his own accounting system and used bugs as an excuse for why the money wasn’t going where it was meant to. He could just deny and delay until people stop caring
Or if he was really competent, he could’ve gotten a list of all funding and put together his own teams to take over the contracts. Trump could’ve awarded contracts to musk left and right in the name of savings, and if he failed to deliver, oops.
The public wouldn’t even know he’s skimming off the top of government spending until it’s too late - he could build a business empire like that, even force through the payment platform he wants so bad by making everyone submit taxes through it
The game is rigged, and right now he’s sitting at the controls… He could’ve slowly entrenched himself while manufacturing problems to sell the solution, he could’ve created opportunities to stealthily invade every corner of our lives for power… Instead he’s basically just smashing the panel for the copper
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
Next Executive Order: rename International Space Station to American Space Station (ASS)
Sounds like something Elon could actually do!
fElon says his mind is like a storm or something, so I guess.
“What a genius!” - redcaps as they clap like seals, probably.
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
He didn’t call him “mentally challenged idiot” he fully called him “retarded”.
Well, THERES the context.
Just another cry session from Musk after he got called out for his bullshit.
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.
Counterproposal: Deorbit Trump and Musk ASAP.
Rapid, unscheduled disassembly.
Countercounterproposal: put them in orbit ASAP and keep them there.
The best thing that could happen would be for Elon to actually attempt to go to Mars
Every time I see pics of him in that “colonize Mars” shirt, I think: YOU FIRST, fELON.
Counterpoint, fly them both to the ISS, get the two stranded astronauts back, then space them out of orbit but leave the station there.
Counterpoint proposal, stuff the ISS with as many traitorous fascist Project 2025 bastards along with President Musk, his plus-one Trump and their buttboy Vance.
Don’t forget fElon’s Incel Clown Posse, AKA, the dogebags!
This sounds interesting. Imagine all of them trying to figure out how to “rule” the ISS as it gets just a bit warmer…“no! The rule says we must wear clothes at all times!..well, because he’s the president, that’s why he gets to go naked”
I’m just picturing the Libertarian types among them all trying to out-Galt-Gulch one another, while the white supremacist types among them are calculating who among them are the most “in-group” when it comes to being the most “superior race”.
they aren’t stranded
Ah yes, I forgot. They can probably just ride the safety exit door on a Boeing soda can craft that may be attached to the iss.
there is a dragon capsule docked that is their ride home. they have a ride home assigned to them, but their return has been delayed. they are not stranded.
Oopsies the station is decompressing quickly. Oh no what a terrible tragedy for the history books. One can dream.
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
Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong. Can you hear me, Major Trump?
I recommend that Elon Musk be deorbited ASAP
And by “deorbited” I mean “take away his Ketamine”.
I recommend that he is orbited. And by that I mean orbited.
I hear Elon has been wanting to colonize Mars.
Stuff him in a Cybertruck and launch it towards Mars. He should be fine.
I would suggest Mercury, just to be on the safe side.
Dropping the perigee that low is a waste of fuel unless you’re gonna be doing gravity assists
I thought that said “obitted” and I nearly clutched my pearls and gasped at the suggestiom
And not let back down.
Let him down whenever, as long as he’s orbited with a cannon.
Without a spacecraft. Or a suit.
As a part of this deorbiting idea, I would suggest removing his orbitofrontal cortex. Although, with all the shit he is dribbling… I’m not so sure that he has one.
I’d be fine if we put him in the orbit of the sun.
unfortunately he already is
Harumpf I realized that as I hit submit. I mean like reeeaaly close. Wait, same thing. Ok, launch the fucker into the sun.
Have I got good news for you!
Not sure what the sun ever did to you to deserve that, but I find that to be too harsh (on the sun).
No no, don’t take it away from him. In fact, he’s been such a good boy lately, he deserves extra. A lot extra.
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.
Know your roots!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_turbulent_priest%3F?wprov=sfla1
And yes, we’ve got one foot in the grave and the other in a toilet.
I can’t remember but who was it that had the contract to deorbit the ISS? Oh yeah, Spaz-X
Might as well fast track other countries leadership on space. Why not? Fuck Elon btw.
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.
As of 2010, the total cost was US$150 billion.
Wow, Elon bought twitter at a third the cost. What an excellent deal he got. /s
if ~ $44b was the cost to acquire the u.s., and its ~ 25% of the global economy (un estimate based on gdp), he could buy all the rest, complete the set, and still have a chunk of change left over.
and its ~ 25% of the global economy (un estimate based on gdp),
The world economy is far larger than that. It’ll be something like $100 trillion, IIRC, as the US is currently about a quarter of it and has a GDP somewhere like $20 or $30 trillion.
kagis
The US GDP is $29.168 trillion for 2024.
So, this is gonna be for 2024, and so it won’t include inflation from 2010:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_economy
That says $110 trillion for the world for 2024.
off by a factor of 1.000 I don’t see the issue?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/upshot/doge-contracts-musk-trump.html
I can’t believe Musk was able to make me actively antagonistic about space exploration.
Nah space flight is cool! And my cousin who works at SpaceX is cool. Musk doesn’t need to be synonymous with space exploration.
