And Musk's focus on Mars as the next destination for humanity after low Earth orbit should come as no surprise; the billionaire has long had the Red Planet in his sights. In a December X post, for example, he dismissed the moon as "a distraction," saying that "we're going straight to Mars."

Elon Musk is bickering with a European astronaut on the social media platform he owns, exchanging tense posts with offensive language. He’s claiming two NASA astronauts were left on the International Space Station for “political reasons.