ISS Astronauts Reject Call for Early Retirement of the ISS

Astronauts on the International Space Station said they disagreed with Elon Musk’s claim that the station was past its prime and should be deorbited as soon as in two years.

Speaking to reporters March 4, NASA astronauts Suni Williams, KD5PLB and Butch Wilmore, who have been on the station since June on a flawed Starliner test flight and Nick Hague, KG5TMV, the commander of the Crew-9 mission that will bring the two back with him later this month, addressed political issues like an early retirement of the ISS and Musks claim he offered NASA an early return of the Starliner crew.

Musk said on 20th February 2025 that the ISS has served its purpose and has very little incremental utility. He called for deorbiting the ISS as soon as possible, which he said should be in two years.

NASA’s current plans call for operating the ISS to 2030.

I was extremely impressed coming up here and seeing how much science is going on, Williams said when asked about Musk's comments. I would say we're actually in our prime right now. We’ve got all the power, all the facilities, up and operating.

I would think that right now was probably not the right time to call it quits, she concluded. We have probably until 2030 in our agreements, and I think that's probably really accurate because we should make the most of this space station for our taxpayers and for all of our international partners, and hold our obligations.