Deorbit of the ISS was scheduled for 2030 with experiments and research continuing until deorbit. Mant research programs are depending on this continuation of service to complete recent proposals.
If you didn't think musk had a conflict of interest, this is exactly what it is. Surely you can see this for what it is.
Who wouldn't want their hundreds of millions of dollars contract paid out 3 years earlier than planned?
I don't think the expected final timeline is really the point. I think the point is cash flow, and to defund and disrupt competition. The benefit to musk is cash 3 years early and locking out competition -- win win.
Regardless, if the deorbit is scheduled 3 years earlier than expected then the US needs to pay pay pay to catch up to the schedule, right? Musk gets the money to start "Phase I" now instead of a year or two from now. It really seems like musk is conning the US and corruptly using his position for cash flow benefits.
This is a really absurd assertion to make in February 2025. His close buddy is the upcoming NASA administrator, and he clearly has the President's ear.
Musk is a Presidential adviser without a bounded specific portfolio, he has say in anything that (1) the executive branch has a say in, and (b) Trump chooses to listen to him on; as NASA is one of the participating agencies in ISS, the US executive branch has some role in it, and Musk could potentially exert influence over that.
More than Musk; SpaceX was awarded the deorbit contract last year, under Biden.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-selects-international...
> I hope the astronauts get back safely
They'll be fine. SpaceX has a perfect record for manned flight so far.
Both scenarios are a bit like Harry Truman claiming to have done most of the work winning WWII.