(NewsNation) — SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk believes the time has come to begin preparations to deorbit the International Space Station, writing in a social media post that it has “served its purpose.”
Musk, who is also leading the Department of Government Efficiency, wrote on X that the International Space Station has “very little incremental utility” and added, “Let’s go to Mars.”
NASA awarded SpaceX a contract last year to deorbit the ISS no earlier than 2030 that is worth $830 million. Federal documents show that SpaceX believes the project will cost about $680 million. According to federal documents, the contract calls for NASA to be provided with a “safe, reliable and cost-effective deorbit vehicle” that meets the ISS’s end-of-life deorbit mission requirements.
Bloomberg reported the vehicle is meant to guide the ISS out of orbit, which would cause it to break up as it plunges through the atmosphere.
NASA’s acting administrator, Janet Petro, recently said that Musk’s DOGE is reviewing NASA’s spending, Investing.com reported.
SpaceX has announced its intentions to conduct uncrewed missions to Mars by 2026 and begin crewed missions to Mars by 2028. The company plans to use the reusable Starship to send equipment and settlers to establish a self-sustaining colony on Mars.
In a statement, a NASA spokesperson said current plans for the agency involve continued use of the International Space Station and future commercial space stations to “conduct groundbreaking science, as well as a training ground for crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.”
“We’re looking forward to hearing more about the Trump Administration’s plans for our agency and expanding exploration for the benefit of all,” the spokesperson said.
The International Space Station, which was built in partnership with Canadian, European, Japanese and Russian space agencies, has been in use for more than 30 years. It serves as the primary research tool used by astronauts and has had at least one crew member on board since 2000.
But now, Musk says the time has come to prepare to deorbit the ISS rather than wait until its scheduled end-of-life deorbiting mission.
“The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible,” Musk wrote on X, adding, “I recommend 2 years from now.”
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, recently called for a renewed focus on the ISS and for developing commercial stations in low Earth orbit, Bloomberg reported.
“One of my top near-term priorities is ensuring that we do not cede American leadership in low Earth orbit,” Cruz said earlier this month. “We’ve invested more than $100 billion into the International Space Station, and it would be exceptionally foolhardy to prematurely send all that infrastructure and all those tax dollars to the bottom of the ocean.”