SpaceX CEO Elon Musk makes BIG claim, 'It's time to retire...'

CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk has again urged the need to retire of the International Space Station (ISS) and suggested to shift focus to Mars instead. On July 3, Elon Musk reposted Tesla Owners Silicon Vallye's post on X, “It’s time to retire the Space Station and focus on Mars.”

Earlier, Elon Musk suggested the retirement of ISS as soon as possible, back in February 2025 and even added that he would recommend this to President Trump. He posted on X, "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.”

July 3, 2025

Elon Musk's suggestion comes amid the approval of President Donald Trump’s endorsed 'Big, Beautiful bill', a new tax bill, which includes staggering $1.25 billion in funding for the ISS.  

Will NASA retire ISS?

International Space Station (ISS) was launched in 1998, and has been orbiting Earth for more than 25 years and may be nearing his its limit. Over the years, more than 3000 scientific experiments and have hosted many astronauts. Currently hosting Axiom-4 mission crew, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, Polish mission specialist Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Tibor Kapu. NASA has long admitted that many parts of ISS are aging and has it has already begun planning to retire it.  

NASA report has claimed that it will cost $3-4 billion to extend the life of ISS, which can be instead used for other space missions. In a new tax bill, $325 million budget is allocated for the safe deorbit operation of ISS around 2030. SpaceX has also been given $843 million contract to develop a U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, to bring back the ISS back to Earth safely.

Musk's ambition for Mars

Elon Musk is an ambitious supporter of Mars colonization and missions, and argues that instead of spending billions of dollars to maintain ISS, the money can be spent on Mars exploration. He imagines Mars to be the next home for humanity. As per reports, he aims to send 1 million people to Mars by 2050, and establish a self-sustaining city called 'Terminus.' His SpaceX is working on Starship for Mars missions. He even aspires for numerous uncrewed missions to Mars planned for 2026, and crewed missions planned for 2028.