[NO DRAMA] Ars Technica: "Elon Musk recommends that the International Space Station be deorbited ASAP"

"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 wrote at midday on Thursday.

NASA has stagnated into established companies getting handouts because retracting them is too politically costly. If you don't believe me, look up any article on the SLS:

As the Space Shuttle program drew to a close in 2009, the Obama administration convened the Augustine Commission to assess NASA's future human spaceflight endeavors. The commission's findings were stark: NASA's proposed Ares V rocket, intended for lunar and Martian missions, was unsustainable and should be canceled. The administration further advocated for a public-private partnership, where private companies would develop and operate spacecraft, and NASA would purchase launch services on a fixed-cost basis.

The recommendations faced fierce opposition from senators representing states with significant aerospace industries. In response, in 2011, Congress mandated the development of the SLS. The program was characterized by a complex web of political compromises, ensuring that various regions and interests benefited, maintaining jobs and contracts for existing space shuttle contractors. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch ensured the new rocket used the Shuttle's solid boosters, which were manufactured in his state. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby insisted that the Marshall Space Flight Center design and test the rocket. Florida Senator Bill Nelson brought home billions of dollars to Kennedy Space Center to modernize its launch facilities.

Almost immediately, Representative Tom McClintock called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate possible violations of the Competition in Contracting Act, arguing that the requirement that Shuttle components be used on SLS were non-competitive and assured contracts to existing suppliers.

The Obama administration's 2014 budget called for canceling SLS and turning over space transportation to commercial companies. The White House sent Lori Garver, the NASA deputy administrator, along with astronaut Sally Ride and other experts to defend the proposal, saying the SLS program was too slow and wasteful. However, Senators Shelby and Nelson quickly moved to fight efforts to cut the program and were ultimately victorious. After retirement from NASA, Garver would go on to recommend cancellation of the SLS.

It's difficult to get across the incredible scale and brazen nature of the corruption. Musk is right, NASA needs to take an axe to these pork-barrel programs - or DOGE can do it for them.

The astronauts will stand on the end of a large plank of (carbon fiber) wood balanced over a fulcrum. The lever will be precisely positioned such that the ISS will plummet violently out of orbit and crash into the other side of the lever, launching the astronauts into space. With the right timing, the trajectory of the astronauts will carry them to Mars without the need for expensive spacecraft or rocket fuel, thus substantially reducing the cost of the expedition.

The ISS is planned for deorbit in 2028. SpaceX won the contract for that last year. So this would bring the deorbit date forwards by 3 years.