Elon Musk Just Caused a Huge Headache for the New Head of NASA

SpaceX CEO and unelected White House advisor Elon Musk unexpectedly said today that he wants the International Space Station destroyed "as soon as possible." In a tweet today, the mercurial entrepreneur asserted that it's "time to begin preparations for deorbiting the space station," arguing that "it has served its purpose," with "very little incremental utility." Instead, Musk argued, the station should be destroyed within two years — but left the final decision "up to the President." It's a confounding statement that comes at an extremely inopportune time. We can only guess as to why Musk wants to ditch existing plans to retire the orbital lab in 2030 — with the help of his space company, we should note. But exerting pressure to ditch the ISS could quickly turn into a massive headache for billionaire tech founder and SpaceX space tourist Jared Isaacman, who's in Washington, DC, for his confirmation (a date has yet to be set). But as Ars Technica's Eric Berger reports, the space s ... Read full article.