Musk-Trump breakup puts $22bn SpaceX contracts at risk, jolting US space programme
Under Trump in recent months, the US space industry and Nasa's workforce of 18,000 have been whipsawed by looming layoffs and proposed budget cuts that would cancel dozens of science programmes, while the US space agency remains without a confirmed administrator.
Trump's nominee for Nasa administrator, Musk ally and billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman, appeared to be an early casualty of Musk's rift with the president when the White House abruptly removed him from consideration over the weekend, denying Musk his pick to lead the space agency.
Trump on Thursday explained dumping Isaacman by saying he was "totally Democrat" in an apparent reference to reports Isaacman had donated to Democrats. Isaacman has donated to some Republican but mostly Democratic candidates for office, according to public records.
Musk's quest to send humans to Mars has been a critical element of Trump's space agenda. The effort has threatened to take resources away from Nasa's flagship effort to send humans back to the moon.
Trump's budget plan sought to cancel Artemis moon missions beyond its third mission, effectively ending the over-budget Space Launch System (SLS) rocket used for those missions.
However, the Senate commerce committee version of Trump's bill released late on Thursday would restore funding for missions four and five, providing at least $1bn (R17.7bn) annually for SLS through to 2029.
Since SpaceX's rockets are a less expensive alternative to SLS, whether the Trump administration opposes the Senate's changes in the coming weeks will give an indication of Musk's remaining political power.
SpaceX, founded in 2002, has won $15bn (R266bn) of contracts from Nasa for the company's Falcon 9 rockets and development of SpaceX's Starship, a multipurpose rocket system tapped to land Nasa astronauts on the moon this decade.
The company has also been awarded billions to launch most of the Pentagon's national security satellites into space while it builds a massive spy satellite constellation in orbit for a US intelligence agency.
In addition to not being in US interests, former Nasa deputy administrator Lori Garver said canceling SpaceX's contracts would probably not be legal.
She added: "A rogue CEO threatening to decommission spacecraft, putting astronauts' lives at risk, is untenable."
Reuters
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