WASHINGTON: About $22 billion of SpaceX’s government contracts are at risk and multiple U.S. space programs could face dramatic changes in the fallout from Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s explosive feud on Thursday.
The disagreement, rooted in Musk’s criticism of Trump’s tax-cut and spending legislation that began last week, quickly spiraled out of control. Trump lashed out at Musk when the president spoke in the Oval Office. Then in a series of X posts, Musk launched barbs at Trump, who threatened to terminate government contracts with Musk’s companies.
Taking the threat seriously, Musk said he would begin “decommissioning” SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft used by NASA.
Hours later, however, Musk appeared to reverse course. Responding to a follower on X urging him and Trump to “cool off and take a step back for a couple of days,” Musk wrote: “Good advice. Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.”
Still, Musk’s mere threat to abruptly pull its Dragon spacecraft out of service marked an unprecedented outburst from one of NASA’s leading commercial partners.
Under a roughly $5 billion contract, the Dragon capsule has been the agency’s only U.S. vessel capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station, making Musk’s company a critical element of the U.S. space program.
The feud raised questions about how far Trump, an often unpredictable force who has intervened in past procurement efforts, would go to punish Musk, who until last week headed Trump’s initiative to downsize the federal government.
If the president prioritized political retaliation and canceled billions of dollars of SpaceX contracts with NASA and the Pentagon, it could slow U.S. space progress.
NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens declined to comment on SpaceX, but said: “We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the president’s objectives in space are met.”–Reuters
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