Elon Musk believes the timeline for deorbiting the International Space Station—an initiative initially planned for before the end of the decade—should be accelerated.
Musk’s SpaceX was awarded a billion-dollar contract in 2024 to guide the space station back to Earth before 2030. Now, the SpaceX CEO says he thinks it should be brought back sooner.
“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,” Musk posted on X on February 20.
Musk then responded to a commenter on his post asking if this means the ISS should be deorbited before 2030, despite SpaceX having the contract to do it by that time.
“The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible,” replied Musk. “I recommend 2 years from now.”
The ISS was launched into orbit 27 years ago in 1998. More recently, its operational life was extended from 2024 to 2030. Russia has said it plans to withdraw from the space station after 2024, and China plans to launch its own station called Tiangong.
In its nearly three-decade history, the ISS has cost between $150 billion and $160 million, including roughly $3-4 billion in ongoing annual costs, ZeroHedge reported.
Last month, The Dallas Express reported that President Trump asked Musk to retrieve two astronauts stranded in the ISS since mid-2024. The Boeing Starliner spacecraft that took astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the space station experienced several issues, preventing a safe return. A rescue mission was planned for this month but was delayed until March or early April.
Musk posted the following on X on January 28, 2025:
The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so.
Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2025