Remember in Despicable Me, when Gru wanted to steal the moon? Well, that's pretty much where we're at now with Elon Musk.
After years of proclaiming his intentions to help humanity colonize Mars, it looks like the billionaire is tempering his expectations and focusing on the Moon instead.
In a recent announcement, Musk promised to lead a "new era in space flight," delaying his Mars plans in order to aim for an uncrewed moon landing by March 2027—little over a year away.
“We're gonna go to the Moon, we're gonna have a base on the Moon, we're gonna send people to Mars and make life multiplanetary,” he enthused.
Why the change of heart?
In a lengthy post on X, Musk added: "For those unaware, SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years."
He continued: "The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars. It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city."
But Musk's ambtions to colonize Mars aren't going anywhere, he said. "That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster."
What do people think about the change?
Over on X, many debated the change of heart while others wondered who could actually afford to go to space one day. Musk replied to an X user remarking about the chance of traveling to the moon, saying, "We hope to make the Moon accessible to anyone who wants to go there."
Still, some netizens remained unimpressed. Here's a look at what users are saying about the pivot...
Utter clownery.
Damning evidence.
Girlbossing too close to the sun, perhaps?
A lucky coincidence?
As the internet is oft to do, others saw the funny side of the situation.
A bad day for the moon.
Ironically, he's becoming more grounded.
Awkward.
Is it time for him to go?
To round things off, here's a classic.
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s newsletter here
