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Elon Musk recommends that the International Space Station be deorbited ASAP

scyzoryk_xyz 2y ago
Let’s de-orbit it to be able to facilitate a new contract and a new design for new money. This time private “for mars”
- Animats 2y ago
  If Musk wants to go to Mars, he has enough money to do it on his own.
  - kccoder 2y ago
    Why use your own money when you can use others' and turn a profit?
electric_mayhem 2y ago
Good thing there’s no conflict of interest in the owner of SpaceX advocating for the destruction of a successful international space project.
- galacticaactual 2y ago
  It's being destructed anyway. Did you read the article?
  - 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
    I recommend that the sun rise tomorrow
- linuxftw 2y ago
  According to the article, it's already slated for splashing down in the pacific in 2030. He's proposing to move the timeline up.
  - jtgeibel 2y ago
    So he is going to accelerate the existing $843 million dollar contract for free? If not, that sure sounds like a conflict of interest to me.
  - viraptor 2y ago
    Yes and according to the article, there are still interesting things planned in the meantime. Meanwhile, who would benefit from working on and sending a replacement up?
    - linuxftw 2y ago
      > interesting things planned in the meantime The article didn't mention anything interesting. Perhaps they would have if there was going to be actually interesting work? Perhaps Musk knows what's scheduled to take place and in his opinion its all a waste of time. Just because someone else thinks it is important doesn't mean it does. I think it's fine to have the conversation, especially if it saves money, considering the US is 10's of trillions in debt.
      - viraptor 2y ago
        That's fine to discuss. That's how things normally happen - someone does the analysis, writes the report, people consider it and maybe implement it. Either way it results in some justification and future accountability. This tweet is none of that.
      - alabastervlog 2y ago
        We don't have to speculate ("perhaps"); it was an outburst because his feelings got hurt by an astronaut. It's there for anyone to read because it all happened in public.
      - JohnFen 2y ago
        > Perhaps Musk knows what's scheduled to take place and in his opinion its all a waste of time. Musk's opinion on anything is worthless.
- axus 2y ago
  Were the Dragon capsule missions not turning a profit?
  - spwa4 2y ago
    Youtuber @Thunderf00t claims that none of Musk's businesses are actually profitable. Musk is only rich because he traded his shares of a failing X.com (the bank) for Paypal shares in trade, mostly, for stopping to sabotage Paypal online, then did little or nothing at Paypal until Ebay bought him out. Tesla is losing money hand over fist, and disaster is turning to catastrophe with Musk's recent antics. SpaceX is losing money (and would be hemorrhaging money if not for US government spending). Starlink is losing money. Neuralink is losing money. Xai is losing money. The Boring company is bankrupt. X has lost at minimum 75% of it's value since Musk took over, and is running at a loss. Musk's talent is not tech, and it's not "first principles" or anything like that. His talent is getting idiot investors to invest ... and not ask for their money back until it's far too late. @Thunderf00t's latest video about the Starship crash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0uFO6BjWSs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0uFO6BjWSs But the whole channel is interesting: https://www.youtube.com/@Thunderf00t/videos https://www.youtube.com/@Thunderf00t/videos Thunderf00t's claim is that Musk is not taking over the government out of patriotism, but because his businesses are 100% dependent on continued government investment, because they're burning through investor cash. MASSIVE continued government investment. The general theory being that Musk has dethroned Bernie Madoff as the biggest US fraudster ever, that this has already happened, but won't come out until fresh government money stops increasing, we just don't know it yet.
    - techorange 2y ago
      It’s so interesting that, like if Musk wanted to rest in his laurels a bit that he would still be known as one of the greatest innovators/entrepeneurs of all time, but yeah, I think two things are true that he is and that he’s way over his skis in almost every way and has no clear path to fix any of it.
    - craigus 2y ago
      Tesla is losing money hand over fist No, it's not. Its 2024 operating income was $7B. SpaceX is losing money No, it's not. It reached profitability in 2023 and has substantially grown revenue since then. (and would be hemorrhaging money if not for US government spending) No, it wouldn't. Most of SpaceX's revenue is from Starlink. https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/02/10/its-official-starlink-is-spacexs-biggest-money-mak/ https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/02/10/its-official-starl... The Boring company is bankrupt No, it's not. Stop spreading misinformation. Check your facts before you post them. Neuralink is losing money What an absolutely ridiculous thing to say about an early stage startup, working diligently on creating a valuable new medical technology, with significant publicly visible progress. Especially ridiculous to say on this platform.
- aeternum 2y ago
  If anything his interest is to keep the space station since SpaceX is the preferred, and now the only provider of transportation to/from the station. It's actually a pretty clever way to avoid the conflict, have others push to keep the space station and thus the necessary transport contracts with SpaceX. Not only this but it also aligns with his stated decades-long goal of focusing on a manned mission to Mars.
  - sympil 2y ago
    I think it far more likely that he wants NASA to contract out building a new space station.
    - BizarroLand 2y ago
      It's amazing how much "galaxy brain 4d chess" these musk huffers play with themselves to justify the stupidity. "Uh, no, you don't see the brilliance! He's advocating for deorbiting the ISS while calling astronauts retarded to trick people into keeping the ISS up and running!" SMDH. You don't have to justify his every thought. The simplest answer is typically the right one.
      - aeternum 2y ago
        So the simplest answer is that he is giving up immediate recurring transport revenue to the existing station for a chance at launch contracts for a future station that may or may not be built? Quite the galaxy brained idea indeed. Keep in mind however that the galaxy is mostly vacuum.
        drawkward 2y ago
        Bro literally has the keys to the kingdom.
  - snailmailstare 2y ago
    Or he cheaped out on quality.
  - 2y ago
cma 2y ago
Because an astronaut hurt his ego contradicting him.
- nullhole 2y ago
  For reference: https://bsky.app/profile/josephpolitano.bsky.social/post/3limywjyb4k2f https://bsky.app/profile/josephpolitano.bsky.social/post/3li...
- nkozyra 2y ago
  Well the last guy to publicly do that (Thailand caves) got it much worse so either Elon's developing a softer side or astronaut got off easy.
- moralestapia 2y ago
  [flagged]
footlose_3815 2y ago
Not sure if this guy talking about Mars qualifies as news.
LetsGetTechnicl 2y ago
Perfect, lets send him into orbit as a replacement
blogabegonija 2y ago
He can go to help it by himself ASAP. Or, at least his Hiccups.
delichon 2y ago
Guy that identifies as vaguely libertarian keeps expressing libertarian opinions. He gathers so much power that it's news whenever it happens. But it has to be little less shocking by now.
- alabastervlog 2y ago
  In this case it was prompted by an astronaut calling him out on social media about lies he told about the ISS in an interview. Part of his response to was to call for deorbiting the station. It's the precise sort of thing you see from a five year old who's losing at a game or something. "Yeah... well... I'll just not play at all! And we'll not have a game!"
Molitor5901 2y ago
I like the idea of the ISS and I want the ISS to remain.. With that said I do think it's past it's expiration date and we should replace it with something better.
- JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - reaperducer 2y ago
    What makes you think that he has to justify his opinion to you? What in your resume makes you the arbiter of independent thought?
rdtsc 2y ago
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230502-a-fiery-end-how-the-iss-will-end-its-life-in-orbit https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230502-a-fiery-end-how-... Weren't the Russians pulling out of supporting it in 2025? > Russia has even suggested it may pull out of the ISS as early as 2025. Though I couldn't find an actual quote from Roscosmos just a BBC article.
- nobankai 2y ago
  AFAIK, the Russian half is lucky to still be intact today. It wouldn't surprise me if the Russian Federation has wanted to deorbit it for decades simply due to the burden of repair and resupply missions.
  - rdtsc 2y ago
    > Russian Federation has wanted to deorbit it for decades simply due to the burden of repair and resupply missions. They do get paid for it? I'd imagine it's bringing in a chunk of change and they'd be happy to let it keep flying. But as a sibling post, politically it's not advantageous for them perhaps.
- potato3732842 2y ago
  Yeah, one of their modules is leaking in a sketchy way and they wanna dip. I'm sure politics and money play a non-trivial role but at the end of the day if the Russians won't put their people in it nobody should put people in it.
  - rdtsc 2y ago
    > at the end of the day if the Russians won't put their people in it nobody should Ha, fair point ;-) > I'm sure politics play a non-trivial role Yeah, they may get paid to fly supply missions, but it's still a tiny bit uncomfortable to claim on TV how they are cooperating with the "evil Anglo-Saxons" (their strange propaganda term for the West) to supply the ISS.
suzzer99 2y ago
He called the astronaut who called out his lies "fully retarded": https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1892584783064052114 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1892584783064052114 He's also gutting the FDA, USAID, CFPB, and FAA, all institutions that his businesses have come in conflict with: https://bsky.app/profile/rbreich.bsky.social/post/3likloythdf2f https://bsky.app/profile/rbreich.bsky.social/post/3likloythd... And according to the WSJ, Yaccarino is now threatening advertisers to spend more money, "or else": https://x.com/bungarsargon/status/1892659483806924994 https://x.com/bungarsargon/status/1892659483806924994 And still, otherwise sober-seeming people on this site continue to make excuses and give him the benefit of the doubt that he has some kind of good intentions.
- xeonmc 2y ago
  You know what they say about the road to hell, perhaps it's a hypothesis based on empirical observation of our trajectory?
  - suzzer99 2y ago
    So your point is let's try bad intentions?
    - rbanffy 2y ago
      We seem to be doing just that right now, and it doesn’t seem it’s working.
    - powerhugs 2y ago
      That's already happening.
  - UncleOxidant 2y ago
    In this case it would be "The road to hell is paved with assumptions of good intention".
    - bb88 2y ago
potato3732842 2y ago
[flagged]
flowersjeff 2y ago
Misleading title :-/ Gotta do better tbh. At least there's a link to the actual (public mind you) tweet, but still.
legitster 2y ago
> This original statement was somewhat ambiguous. Last July, NASA awarded Space X an $843 million contract to modify a Dragon spacecraft to serve as a propulsive vehicle to safely guide the aging space station into the Pacific Ocean in 2030. So in some sense, preparations are already underway to shut down the laboratory. > I asked Musk if he meant that NASA and the US government should commit to the 2030 end-of-life date, or if he wanted to accelerate the timeline for the station's demise. > "The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible. I recommend 2 years from now," Musk replied. So it's not like this is coming completely out of the blue, but it's hilarious Elon's continued heel turn. He went anti-tech, abandoned his environmental/EV fans, and now he takes aim at space nerds? Are there any of his original supporters left to piss off?
- qingcharles 2y ago
  He literally only made this comment because the commander of the ISS called him a liar. He is so thin-skinned that he is willing to explode the entire space station ahead of schedule just to retaliate over a Tweet.
  - kccoder 2y ago
    "Narcissistic rage is an extreme reaction that can occur when someone with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) feels their self-importance is threatened. It can be triggered by criticism, loss of control, or even minor setbacks." We should start teaching children emotional intelligence daily in K-12, including niche topics like how to spot sociopaths, narcissists, ..., and all other forms of monsters. Perhaps in a generation we can learn to stop giving these deeply damaged and dangerous people any kind of power over us.
- potato3732842 2y ago
  Space nerds are pretty meh on the ISS. It's cool but it served its purpose. Nobody is gonna cry if it dies a little earlier. We should have our sights set on bigger and better things.
  - 2y ago
lenerdenator 2y ago
"Let's go to Mars" is a lot more ominous than it used to be, knowing who will be in charge of such a venture and their attitudes on, idk, everything involving society. The push to the Moon was a national project that resulted from the vision of an elected leader with at least some controls on his power, and never promised to create a society beyond the authorities of Earth. Musk's push to Mars is the opposite. The ISS is old and is only getting older, but if it means having a place to do some science that would otherwise not be done, and draining funds that would otherwise be used by an ethically-questionable human being to make himself the emperor of Mars... keep it in orbit.
- georgemcbay 2y ago
  > "Let's go to Mars" is a lot more ominous than it used to be, knowing who will be in charge of such a venture and their attitudes on, idk, everything involving society. On the bright side, it'll happen, one might predict, about 6 months maybe 12 months at the outside after a Tesla has completed a fully autonomous coast to coast drive. https://motherfrunker.ca/fsd/ https://motherfrunker.ca/fsd/
- UncleOxidant 2y ago
  > "Let's go to Mars" is a lot more ominous than it used to be, knowing who will be in charge of such a venture and their attitudes on, idk, everything involving society. What's the old saying about homeowners associations keeping Nazis busy so they can't do damage elsewhere? The quicker we can get this guy to Mars and set him up as Emperor God of Mars, the quicker we can get him out of our hair.
  - jauntywundrkind 2y ago
    That'll be ok for a couple hundred years, but not nearly long enough. Will get real bad after. And at the cost of ignoring extreme iniquity for a long long time.
  - ryandvm 2y ago
    He never believed we would get to Mars or that there would be a self-sustained colony. Mars has only ever been a pipe dream about bilking the world's largest governments for the fattest contract in all of history.
throw0101d 2y ago
So Andreas Mogensen, "commander of ISS for Exp 70", posted: >> Hannity: You’re going to help rescue two astronauts >> Musk: They were left up there for political reasons > What a lie. > And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media. * https://twitter.com/Astro_Andreas/status/1892517170384392664 https://twitter.com/Astro_Andreas/status/1892517170384392664 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Mogensen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Mogensen The response to that was: > 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. * https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1892584783064052114 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1892584783064052114
- throw0101d 2y ago
  Another astronaut: > I was the Commander of the @ISS when Andy, @Astro_Andreas flew his first space mission. He is one of the most competent, trustworthy, and honest people I’ve ever met. This rhetoric is beyond the pale but, sadly, not surprising. He does not deserve this kind of disrespect. * https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/1892809201476653096 https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/18928092014766530...
- disqard 2y ago
  Watching that clip (just the video, muted) from the interview, their demeanor reminds me of the characters sketched by Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn: the Duke, and the King.
- insane_dreamer 2y ago
  Elon is so immature sometimes (most of the time lately it seems)
  - rbanffy 2y ago
    He used to make an effort to hide it.
- sebazzz 2y ago
jeffjobs4000 2y ago
It's scheduled to be deorbited in 5 years, but Musk thinks it should be done in 2 years... IS DEMOCRACY AT RISK IN AMERICA?!?! The current administration will attempt to do many dumb things, like any human beings. Crying wolf at every action or opinion diminishes the other side's creditability for when it matters. This is bad for all of us.
- minimaxir 2y ago
  > will attempt to do many dumb things, like any human beings Most human beings aren't in charge of the free world and whose decisions have cascading effects on everyone. And those that are generally tend to be fairly elected and confirmed with a set of checks and balances governing their actions to limit the impact of stupid decisions. Elon Musk is none of those.
  - jeffjobs4000 2y ago
    Correct. So a strong counterweight is important to whichever side is in power. My point with "like any human beings" was to not demonize the current group, and point out that any group of people in power will do stupid things.
  - saturn_vk 2y ago
    Calling the US the free world might be one of the reasons we’re in this mess in the first place
- alabastervlog 2y ago
  He had a toddler's reaction to being fact-checked by an astronaut on Twitter, and because he's him that has policy and spending implications for our government. While he's "just an advisor with no direct power" (to one audience—a court) but "in charge" to another and to all appearances very much is running some important operations. This shouldn't be ignored, it's one of a thousand things that have happened lately that, very much in living memory, would (any one of them!) have for-sure and for excellent reasons been the end of someone's influence on public life. All of those matter.
beloch 2y ago
"It would also wreck the business plans of multiple US companies working to provide this capability for NASA. Moreover, it would shoulder even more responsibility for the US space enterprise onto a single company, SpaceX." --- This hits it on the nose. Musk is using his political influence to lock out the competition and siphon billions of government spending to his own company. It's a crystal clear conflict of interest and exposes the real purpose of DOGE.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago
https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/20/business/elon-musk-wealth-government-help/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/20/business/elon-musk-wealth-gov... Waste and inefficiency
LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
In Decisivly Optimizing for General Efficiency I'd recommend to resurrect and reinstate project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dragon_(rocket) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dragon_(rocket) from 1962. 550 tons to LEO launched out of the ocean. No platform necessary, dead simple, and cheap materials, instead of relying on complicated toys from big boys. And then build some real things up there, not tiny tin cans with foul air. Like these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_wheel_space_station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_wheel_space_station please?

Let’s de-orbit it to be able to facilitate a new contract and a new design for new money. This time private “for mars”

Animats 2y ago
If Musk wants to go to Mars, he has enough money to do it on his own.
- kccoder 2y ago
  Why use your own money when you can use others' and turn a profit?

Good thing there’s no conflict of interest in the owner of SpaceX advocating for the destruction of a successful international space project.

galacticaactual 2y ago
It's being destructed anyway. Did you read the article?
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
  I recommend that the sun rise tomorrow
linuxftw 2y ago
According to the article, it's already slated for splashing down in the pacific in 2030. He's proposing to move the timeline up.
- jtgeibel 2y ago
  So he is going to accelerate the existing $843 million dollar contract for free? If not, that sure sounds like a conflict of interest to me.
- viraptor 2y ago
  Yes and according to the article, there are still interesting things planned in the meantime. Meanwhile, who would benefit from working on and sending a replacement up?
  - linuxftw 2y ago
    > interesting things planned in the meantime The article didn't mention anything interesting. Perhaps they would have if there was going to be actually interesting work? Perhaps Musk knows what's scheduled to take place and in his opinion its all a waste of time. Just because someone else thinks it is important doesn't mean it does. I think it's fine to have the conversation, especially if it saves money, considering the US is 10's of trillions in debt.
    - viraptor 2y ago
      That's fine to discuss. That's how things normally happen - someone does the analysis, writes the report, people consider it and maybe implement it. Either way it results in some justification and future accountability. This tweet is none of that.
    - alabastervlog 2y ago
      We don't have to speculate ("perhaps"); it was an outburst because his feelings got hurt by an astronaut. It's there for anyone to read because it all happened in public.
    - JohnFen 2y ago
      > Perhaps Musk knows what's scheduled to take place and in his opinion its all a waste of time. Musk's opinion on anything is worthless.
axus 2y ago
Were the Dragon capsule missions not turning a profit?
- spwa4 2y ago
  Youtuber @Thunderf00t claims that none of Musk's businesses are actually profitable. Musk is only rich because he traded his shares of a failing X.com (the bank) for Paypal shares in trade, mostly, for stopping to sabotage Paypal online, then did little or nothing at Paypal until Ebay bought him out. Tesla is losing money hand over fist, and disaster is turning to catastrophe with Musk's recent antics. SpaceX is losing money (and would be hemorrhaging money if not for US government spending). Starlink is losing money. Neuralink is losing money. Xai is losing money. The Boring company is bankrupt. X has lost at minimum 75% of it's value since Musk took over, and is running at a loss. Musk's talent is not tech, and it's not "first principles" or anything like that. His talent is getting idiot investors to invest ... and not ask for their money back until it's far too late. @Thunderf00t's latest video about the Starship crash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0uFO6BjWSs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0uFO6BjWSs But the whole channel is interesting: https://www.youtube.com/@Thunderf00t/videos https://www.youtube.com/@Thunderf00t/videos Thunderf00t's claim is that Musk is not taking over the government out of patriotism, but because his businesses are 100% dependent on continued government investment, because they're burning through investor cash. MASSIVE continued government investment. The general theory being that Musk has dethroned Bernie Madoff as the biggest US fraudster ever, that this has already happened, but won't come out until fresh government money stops increasing, we just don't know it yet.
  - techorange 2y ago
    It’s so interesting that, like if Musk wanted to rest in his laurels a bit that he would still be known as one of the greatest innovators/entrepeneurs of all time, but yeah, I think two things are true that he is and that he’s way over his skis in almost every way and has no clear path to fix any of it.
  - craigus 2y ago
    Tesla is losing money hand over fist No, it's not. Its 2024 operating income was $7B. SpaceX is losing money No, it's not. It reached profitability in 2023 and has substantially grown revenue since then. (and would be hemorrhaging money if not for US government spending) No, it wouldn't. Most of SpaceX's revenue is from Starlink. https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/02/10/its-official-starlink-is-spacexs-biggest-money-mak/ https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/02/10/its-official-starl... The Boring company is bankrupt No, it's not. Stop spreading misinformation. Check your facts before you post them. Neuralink is losing money What an absolutely ridiculous thing to say about an early stage startup, working diligently on creating a valuable new medical technology, with significant publicly visible progress. Especially ridiculous to say on this platform.
aeternum 2y ago
If anything his interest is to keep the space station since SpaceX is the preferred, and now the only provider of transportation to/from the station. It's actually a pretty clever way to avoid the conflict, have others push to keep the space station and thus the necessary transport contracts with SpaceX. Not only this but it also aligns with his stated decades-long goal of focusing on a manned mission to Mars.
- sympil 2y ago
  I think it far more likely that he wants NASA to contract out building a new space station.
  - BizarroLand 2y ago
    It's amazing how much "galaxy brain 4d chess" these musk huffers play with themselves to justify the stupidity. "Uh, no, you don't see the brilliance! He's advocating for deorbiting the ISS while calling astronauts retarded to trick people into keeping the ISS up and running!" SMDH. You don't have to justify his every thought. The simplest answer is typically the right one.
    - aeternum 2y ago
      So the simplest answer is that he is giving up immediate recurring transport revenue to the existing station for a chance at launch contracts for a future station that may or may not be built? Quite the galaxy brained idea indeed. Keep in mind however that the galaxy is mostly vacuum.
      - drawkward 2y ago
        Bro literally has the keys to the kingdom.
- snailmailstare 2y ago
  Or he cheaped out on quality.
- 2y ago

cma 2y ago

Because an astronaut hurt his ego contradicting him.

nullhole 2y ago
For reference: https://bsky.app/profile/josephpolitano.bsky.social/post/3limywjyb4k2f https://bsky.app/profile/josephpolitano.bsky.social/post/3li...
nkozyra 2y ago
Well the last guy to publicly do that (Thailand caves) got it much worse so either Elon's developing a softer side or astronaut got off easy.
moralestapia 2y ago
[flagged]

footlose_3815 2y ago

Not sure if this guy talking about Mars qualifies as news.

LetsGetTechnicl 2y ago

Perfect, lets send him into orbit as a replacement

blogabegonija 2y ago

He can go to help it by himself ASAP. Or, at least his Hiccups.

delichon 2y ago

Guy that identifies as vaguely libertarian keeps expressing libertarian opinions. He gathers so much power that it's news whenever it happens. But it has to be little less shocking by now.

alabastervlog 2y ago
In this case it was prompted by an astronaut calling him out on social media about lies he told about the ISS in an interview. Part of his response to was to call for deorbiting the station. It's the precise sort of thing you see from a five year old who's losing at a game or something. "Yeah... well... I'll just not play at all! And we'll not have a game!"

Molitor5901 2y ago

I like the idea of the ISS and I want the ISS to remain.. With that said I do think it's past it's expiration date and we should replace it with something better.

JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B 2y ago
[flagged]
- reaperducer 2y ago
  What makes you think that he has to justify his opinion to you? What in your resume makes you the arbiter of independent thought?

rdtsc 2y ago

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230502-a-fiery-end-how-the-iss-will-end-its-life-in-orbit https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230502-a-fiery-end-how-... Weren't the Russians pulling out of supporting it in 2025? > Russia has even suggested it may pull out of the ISS as early as 2025. Though I couldn't find an actual quote from Roscosmos just a BBC article.

nobankai 2y ago
AFAIK, the Russian half is lucky to still be intact today. It wouldn't surprise me if the Russian Federation has wanted to deorbit it for decades simply due to the burden of repair and resupply missions.
- rdtsc 2y ago
  > Russian Federation has wanted to deorbit it for decades simply due to the burden of repair and resupply missions. They do get paid for it? I'd imagine it's bringing in a chunk of change and they'd be happy to let it keep flying. But as a sibling post, politically it's not advantageous for them perhaps.
potato3732842 2y ago
Yeah, one of their modules is leaking in a sketchy way and they wanna dip. I'm sure politics and money play a non-trivial role but at the end of the day if the Russians won't put their people in it nobody should put people in it.
- rdtsc 2y ago
  > at the end of the day if the Russians won't put their people in it nobody should Ha, fair point ;-) > I'm sure politics play a non-trivial role Yeah, they may get paid to fly supply missions, but it's still a tiny bit uncomfortable to claim on TV how they are cooperating with the "evil Anglo-Saxons" (their strange propaganda term for the West) to supply the ISS.

suzzer99 2y ago

He called the astronaut who called out his lies "fully retarded": https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1892584783064052114 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1892584783064052114 He's also gutting the FDA, USAID, CFPB, and FAA, all institutions that his businesses have come in conflict with: https://bsky.app/profile/rbreich.bsky.social/post/3likloythdf2f https://bsky.app/profile/rbreich.bsky.social/post/3likloythd... And according to the WSJ, Yaccarino is now threatening advertisers to spend more money, "or else": https://x.com/bungarsargon/status/1892659483806924994 https://x.com/bungarsargon/status/1892659483806924994 And still, otherwise sober-seeming people on this site continue to make excuses and give him the benefit of the doubt that he has some kind of good intentions.

xeonmc 2y ago
You know what they say about the road to hell, perhaps it's a hypothesis based on empirical observation of our trajectory?
- suzzer99 2y ago
  So your point is let's try bad intentions?
  - rbanffy 2y ago
    We seem to be doing just that right now, and it doesn’t seem it’s working.
  - powerhugs 2y ago
    That's already happening.
- UncleOxidant 2y ago
  In this case it would be "The road to hell is paved with assumptions of good intention".
  - bb88 2y ago

potato3732842 2y ago

[flagged]

flowersjeff 2y ago

Misleading title :-/ Gotta do better tbh. At least there's a link to the actual (public mind you) tweet, but still.

legitster 2y ago

> This original statement was somewhat ambiguous. Last July, NASA awarded Space X an $843 million contract to modify a Dragon spacecraft to serve as a propulsive vehicle to safely guide the aging space station into the Pacific Ocean in 2030. So in some sense, preparations are already underway to shut down the laboratory. > I asked Musk if he meant that NASA and the US government should commit to the 2030 end-of-life date, or if he wanted to accelerate the timeline for the station's demise. > "The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible. I recommend 2 years from now," Musk replied. So it's not like this is coming completely out of the blue, but it's hilarious Elon's continued heel turn. He went anti-tech, abandoned his environmental/EV fans, and now he takes aim at space nerds? Are there any of his original supporters left to piss off?

qingcharles 2y ago
He literally only made this comment because the commander of the ISS called him a liar. He is so thin-skinned that he is willing to explode the entire space station ahead of schedule just to retaliate over a Tweet.
- kccoder 2y ago
  "Narcissistic rage is an extreme reaction that can occur when someone with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) feels their self-importance is threatened. It can be triggered by criticism, loss of control, or even minor setbacks." We should start teaching children emotional intelligence daily in K-12, including niche topics like how to spot sociopaths, narcissists, ..., and all other forms of monsters. Perhaps in a generation we can learn to stop giving these deeply damaged and dangerous people any kind of power over us.
potato3732842 2y ago
Space nerds are pretty meh on the ISS. It's cool but it served its purpose. Nobody is gonna cry if it dies a little earlier. We should have our sights set on bigger and better things.
- 2y ago

lenerdenator 2y ago

"Let's go to Mars" is a lot more ominous than it used to be, knowing who will be in charge of such a venture and their attitudes on, idk, everything involving society. The push to the Moon was a national project that resulted from the vision of an elected leader with at least some controls on his power, and never promised to create a society beyond the authorities of Earth. Musk's push to Mars is the opposite. The ISS is old and is only getting older, but if it means having a place to do some science that would otherwise not be done, and draining funds that would otherwise be used by an ethically-questionable human being to make himself the emperor of Mars... keep it in orbit.

georgemcbay 2y ago
> "Let's go to Mars" is a lot more ominous than it used to be, knowing who will be in charge of such a venture and their attitudes on, idk, everything involving society. On the bright side, it'll happen, one might predict, about 6 months maybe 12 months at the outside after a Tesla has completed a fully autonomous coast to coast drive. https://motherfrunker.ca/fsd/ https://motherfrunker.ca/fsd/
UncleOxidant 2y ago
> "Let's go to Mars" is a lot more ominous than it used to be, knowing who will be in charge of such a venture and their attitudes on, idk, everything involving society. What's the old saying about homeowners associations keeping Nazis busy so they can't do damage elsewhere? The quicker we can get this guy to Mars and set him up as Emperor God of Mars, the quicker we can get him out of our hair.
- jauntywundrkind 2y ago
  That'll be ok for a couple hundred years, but not nearly long enough. Will get real bad after. And at the cost of ignoring extreme iniquity for a long long time.
- ryandvm 2y ago
  He never believed we would get to Mars or that there would be a self-sustained colony. Mars has only ever been a pipe dream about bilking the world's largest governments for the fattest contract in all of history.

throw0101d 2y ago

So Andreas Mogensen, "commander of ISS for Exp 70", posted: >> Hannity: You’re going to help rescue two astronauts >> Musk: They were left up there for political reasons > What a lie. > And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media. * https://twitter.com/Astro_Andreas/status/1892517170384392664 https://twitter.com/Astro_Andreas/status/1892517170384392664 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Mogensen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Mogensen The response to that was: > 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. * https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1892584783064052114 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1892584783064052114

throw0101d 2y ago
Another astronaut: > I was the Commander of the @ISS when Andy, @Astro_Andreas flew his first space mission. He is one of the most competent, trustworthy, and honest people I’ve ever met. This rhetoric is beyond the pale but, sadly, not surprising. He does not deserve this kind of disrespect. * https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/1892809201476653096 https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/18928092014766530...
disqard 2y ago
Watching that clip (just the video, muted) from the interview, their demeanor reminds me of the characters sketched by Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn: the Duke, and the King.
insane_dreamer 2y ago
Elon is so immature sometimes (most of the time lately it seems)
- rbanffy 2y ago
  He used to make an effort to hide it.
sebazzz 2y ago

jeffjobs4000 2y ago

It's scheduled to be deorbited in 5 years, but Musk thinks it should be done in 2 years... IS DEMOCRACY AT RISK IN AMERICA?!?! The current administration will attempt to do many dumb things, like any human beings. Crying wolf at every action or opinion diminishes the other side's creditability for when it matters. This is bad for all of us.

minimaxir 2y ago
> will attempt to do many dumb things, like any human beings Most human beings aren't in charge of the free world and whose decisions have cascading effects on everyone. And those that are generally tend to be fairly elected and confirmed with a set of checks and balances governing their actions to limit the impact of stupid decisions. Elon Musk is none of those.
- jeffjobs4000 2y ago
  Correct. So a strong counterweight is important to whichever side is in power. My point with "like any human beings" was to not demonize the current group, and point out that any group of people in power will do stupid things.
- saturn_vk 2y ago
  Calling the US the free world might be one of the reasons we’re in this mess in the first place
alabastervlog 2y ago
He had a toddler's reaction to being fact-checked by an astronaut on Twitter, and because he's him that has policy and spending implications for our government. While he's "just an advisor with no direct power" (to one audience—a court) but "in charge" to another and to all appearances very much is running some important operations. This shouldn't be ignored, it's one of a thousand things that have happened lately that, very much in living memory, would (any one of them!) have for-sure and for excellent reasons been the end of someone's influence on public life. All of those matter.

beloch 2y ago

"It would also wreck the business plans of multiple US companies working to provide this capability for NASA. Moreover, it would shoulder even more responsibility for the US space enterprise onto a single company, SpaceX." --- This hits it on the nose. Musk is using his political influence to lock out the competition and siphon billions of government spending to his own company. It's a crystal clear conflict of interest and exposes the real purpose of DOGE.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/20/business/elon-musk-wealth-government-help/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/20/business/elon-musk-wealth-gov... Waste and inefficiency

LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago

In Decisivly Optimizing for General Efficiency I'd recommend to resurrect and reinstate project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dragon_(rocket) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dragon_(rocket) from 1962. 550 tons to LEO launched out of the ocean. No platform necessary, dead simple, and cheap materials, instead of relying on complicated toys from big boys. And then build some real things up there, not tiny tin cans with foul air. Like these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_wheel_space_station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_wheel_space_station please?