NASA Responds to Musk Statements about Deorbiting ISS, Butch and Suni

Posts by Elon Musk on his social media platform X took aim at the International Space Station today, arguing it should be deorbited much sooner than NASA plans. Separately he again insisted that two NASA astronauts who have unexpectedly remained aboard the ISS since last summer, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were left there by the Biden Administration for political reasons. NASA issued two statements this afternoon and while they did not directly reference Musk’s posts, the connection seemed apparent.

Musk said he wants to terminate the ISS because it has “served its purpose” and instead focus on getting to Mars. NASA and its ISS international partners — Russia, Japan, Canada and 11 European countries — already are planning to deorbit the ISS five years from now in 2030. Last year NASA awarded Musk’s SpaceX $843 million to build a “U.S. Deorbit Vehicle” to maneuver the ISS out of orbit and into the Pacific Ocean. But now Musk wants it to happen sooner, perhaps in two years.

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.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2025

The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible.

I recommend 2 years from now.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2025

His position is surprising since SpaceX earns revenue from transporting NASA-sponsored crews to and from the ISS every six months as well from private astronaut missions that visit the ISS periodically. Nor is it clear the USDV could be ready in two years. Not to mention that all the ISS partners would need to agree. The facility is an interdependent assemblage of modules and other hardware from all the partners.  All have agreed to operate ISS until 2030 except Russia, which is committed only until 2028 although NASA expects them to extend to 2030 in due course.

The ISS has been permanently occupied by international crews rotating on roughly six-month missions for 24 years. NASA knows it won’t last forever and plans to keep it operating until new commercial space stations are available to replace it.  NASA wants to be just one of many customers on privately-owned space stations in low Earth orbit (LEO).  Several companies are working with NASA through the Commercial LEO Development (CLD) program to do that with a 2030 deadline.

A pressing issue is where NASA and others would conduct the microgravity research that takes place on the ISS every day if there are no commercial space stations to transition to. China is the only other country with a space station, Tiangong-3.  NASA and Congress continually stress the need to avoid a gap when there are no U.S. space stations and China offers the only space-based research facility.

NASA’s statement simply said they are “looking forward” to learning what the Trump Administration plans to do.

“NASA’s current mission plans call for using the International Space Station, and future commercial space stations, in low Earth orbit 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.” — NASA

Separately, in a heated exchange on X, Musk repeated his assertion that Butch and Suni are still aboard the ISS today because of a political decision by the Biden Administration.

They arrived on the ISS on Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test on June 6, 2024. Propulsion system failures and other issues led NASA to decide that Starliner was not safe enough to bring them back to Earth.  NASA chose to make them part of the next regular crew rotation, Crew-9. They had only planned to spend about 8 days on the ISS and that would mean staying for 8 months, but that is not a record. Frank Rubio holds the U.S. record of 371 days and Russian cosmonauts have stayed longer. Butch and Suni are experienced test pilots and astronauts who already had spent long-duration missions on the ISS. In video interviews from the ISS they’ve repeatedly assured everyone they are fine.

They could come home at any time. The spacecraft that will return them to Earth, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom, is docked right outside. It brought the other two members of Crew-9 to the ISS in September.

They are still aboard because they are waiting for their replacements on Crew-10. They were supposed to come home about now, but Crew-10’s launch was delayed because that crew was supposed to launch in a brand new Crew Dragon and it’s not ready yet. The launch was pushed to the end of March.

Suddenly on January 28, Musk and President Trump made statements asserting that Butch and Suni were “virtually abandoned” on the ISS by the Biden Administration and should be brought home as soon as possible.

NASA and SpaceX thereafter decided to swap Crew Dragons. Crew-10 now will launch on one of the four existing spacecraft on March 12, about two weeks earlier than before. The status of the new Crew Dragon is unclear.

Musk repeated his assertion that Butch and Suni were left on the ISS for political reasons during an appearance on Fox News. ESA astronaut Andreas Mogenson, who was the ISS commander from September 2023-March 2024, posted on X that Musk’s statement was a lie, prompting an angry exchange.

What a lie.

And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media. https://t.co/DxofPYolon

— Andreas Mogensen (@Astro_Andreas) February 20, 2025

You are fully retarded.

SpaceX could have brought them back several months ago.

I OFFERED THIS DIRECTLY to the Biden administration and they refused.

Return WAS pushed back for political reasons.

Idiot.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2025

Elon, I have long admired you and what you have accomplished, especially at SpaceX and Tesla.

You know as well as I do, that Butch and Suni are returning with Crew-9, as has been the plan since last September. Even now, you are not sending up a rescue ship to bring them home.…

— Andreas Mogensen (@Astro_Andreas) February 20, 2025

NASA’s statement focused on the fact that the agency’s interest is safety.

“NASA is focused on safely executing our crew rotation missions and work aboard the International Space Station for the benefit of humanity and future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. In January, President Trump announced he asked Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home from the space station as soon as possible. NASA and SpaceX expeditiously reviewed its joint crew rotation operations and changed the Dragon spacecraft for the launch of the agency’s Crew-10 mission. This decision safely accelerates the target launch of Crew-10 and the return of Crew-9, pending mission readiness and completion of the agency’s upcoming certification of flight readiness process.” — NASA