Elon Musk has recommended that the International Space Station (ISS) be deorbited earlier than currently planned after getting into a spat with a Danish astronaut.

Nasa is currently planning to decommission the ISS in 2031, instead supporting the creation of private Earth-orbiting space stations with the agency as one of many customers.

But writing on X (formerly Twitter), Musk said: “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,” he added.

When pushed on his comment by another user on the platform, Musk said he recommended the ISS be deorbited “2 years from now”, which would be at least three years earlier than currently planned, but said it was ultimately “up to the President”.

Musk is the CEO of SpaceX, which was selected last year to launch the Starlab space station – a commercial venture from a joint partnership between Airbus and Voyager Space.

While he did not expand on his...