In This Story
Elon Musk says it’s about time for SpaceX to deorbit the International Space Station — “as soon as possible.”
“It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility,” the SpaceX CEO wrote on X, the social media platform he owns. “Let’s go to Mars.”
NASA awarded SpaceX a contract worth up to $843 million to deorbit the ISS no earlier than 2030, an endeavor that the company expects will cost it about $680 million, according to federal documents. SpaceX has been tasked with creating a new vehicle — described as a “tug boat” — which will be used to push the station into the Pacific Ocean from space.
SpaceX’s “mission suitability” — which weighs the firm’s small business utilization, management approach, and technical approach — scored an 822 out of 1,000. That allowed it to outperform rivals Northrop Grumman Systems (NOC+2.07%) and AlphaSpaces, which received poorer scores.
The ISS has been orbiting Earth since construction began in 1998. Since its first crew arrived in November 2000, it has hosted hundreds of visitors from 20 countries. Currently, the ISS is playing home to crews from SpaceX, Soyuz, and Boeing.
The space station’s lifetime has been extended several times over the years, although experts believe it would be risky to allow it to remain in space after 2030. The ISS’s orbit will be allowed to naturally decay in 2026, which should make it ready to deorbit in mid-2030.
In response to a question from a reporter on X, Musk said that the timetable for deorbiting the ISS is up to President Donald Trump. However, he offered potentially dueling recommendations that action be taken “as soon as possible” and in two years.
When SpaceX sends its Crew-10 mission to the ISS as soon as March 12, the current SpaceX astronauts at the station will return. Joining them will be Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who flew to the ISS with Boeing’s (BA-1.06%) Starliner, but stayed behind when the aircraft returned to Earth without them because of safety concerns.
Musk on Thursday alleged that Former President Joe Biden’s administration “flatly refused” an offer for SpaceX to return Wilmore and Williams because of political reasons. He wrote that SpaceX would have “made it work” within NASA’s annual budget. However, the Biden administration already had a deal with SpaceX to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth later this year.
“I can tell you unequivocally, from a personal standpoint, that politics has not played any part in this decision,” then-NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in August after announcing that the Starliner would not return with the astronauts. “It absolutely has nothing to do with it.”