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Musk Says SpaceX to Decommission Dragon Spacecraft Immediately

Musk Says SpaceX to Decommission Dragon Spacecraft Immediately

Yahooa day ago

(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk said he was going to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft that ferries cargo and people to the International Space Station for the US, escalating a dayslong spat between the billionaire and President Donald Trump.
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SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is the company's primary vehicle for sending astronauts and cargo to orbit. The company has billions of dollars in contracts with NASA to send the agency's astronauts on periodic trips to and from the ISS, which allows the space agency to maintain an uninterrupted presence at the space station until its retirement in 2030.
Musk's pledge followed Trump's threat to pull Musk's governmental contracts, which was prompted by the near-incessant bashing of the president's tax bill on X, his social media service.
NASA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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Departure of Tesla's humanoid robot boss caps tough week for Elon Musk, amid bitter fallout with Trump
Departure of Tesla's humanoid robot boss caps tough week for Elon Musk, amid bitter fallout with Trump

Yahoo

time37 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Departure of Tesla's humanoid robot boss caps tough week for Elon Musk, amid bitter fallout with Trump

It's been a difficult week for Tesla. Not long after Elon Musk and President Donald Trump's very-public social media spat led Tesla shares to take their greatest single-day drop ever on Thursday—erasing $152 billion off its market cap—one of Tesla's top engineers confirmed on social media late Friday afternoon that he was leaving the company. Milan Kovac, who oversaw the development of Tesla's 'Optimus' humanoid robot posted on X that he had made 'the most difficult decision of my life' and would be 'moving out of my position,' confirming a Bloomberg report from earlier Friday afternoon that he was departing the company. 'I've been far away from home for too long, and will need to spend more time with family abroad,' he wrote in the post. 'I want to make it clear that this is the only reason, and has absolutely nothing to do with anything else. My support for [Elon Musk] and the team is ironclad—Tesla team forever.' Musk later replied to the post on X, thanking Kovac for his contributions to the company and saying it had been an 'honor' to work with him. The departure is a meaningful one for Tesla. Musk has repeatedly made public statements staking the future of the company on Tesla's self-driving software and its yet-to-be-released humanoid robot product. Musk has claimed that the Optimus robot, specifically, could generate 'north of $10 trillion in revenue' for Tesla and be its biggest product ever. It's largely his bullishness on these AI-powered initiatives that have contributed to Tesla's soaring stock price, which some analysts have argued is divorced from reality. Kovac's departure raises questions over the future direction of Optimus, and whether Tesla will successfully be able to develop, manufacture, and deliver the humanoid robots. Bloomberg reported that Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla's Autopilot, would be taking over responsibilities for Optimus. Tesla had already been criticized for overselling the capabilities of Optimus after it failed to alert attendees of its 'We, Robot' launch event that humans were apparently remotely controlling the robots. (Kovac had confirmed in a social media post after the event that the robots were human-assisted 'to some extent') The departure of one of Tesla's top engineers adds to what has already been a troubling week for the electric vehicle maker. Tesla's shares tumbled this week as President Trump and Musk took to their respective social media platforms to hurl insults at one another. Trump accused Musk of being frustrated that EV credits for Tesla cars would go away as part of the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' while Musk accused the president of irresponsible spending with the proposed legislation. The conversation spiraled into insults and even discussions of cutting SpaceX contracts with NASA as the partnership between the two figures very publicly imploded. Adding to Tesla's woes, Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs issued a note to investors on Thursday forecasting weaker-than-expected sales of Tesla cars in the second quarter. Tesla shares recovered some ground on Friday as Musk said he was open to making amends with Trump, though the stock still finished the week down 14% from January (still, Tesla shares are trading nearly 66% higher than they were this time last year.) In his social media post, Kovac recounted how he had joined Tesla in 2016 as an engineer on its Autopilot team and that he had transitioned to lead the Optimus group in early 2022 when Tesla had 'nothing but a couple Kuka arms arranged upside-down,' referring to the industrial robotic arms that are often used in automated factory systems. Tesla did not respond to an immediate request for comment on Kovac's departure. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Trump says Musk has 'lost his mind' as feud fallout mounts
Trump says Musk has 'lost his mind' as feud fallout mounts

News24

time42 minutes ago

  • News24

Trump says Musk has 'lost his mind' as feud fallout mounts

US President Donald Trump said Friday that Elon Musk had "lost his mind" but insisted he wanted to move on from the fiery split with his billionaire former ally. The blistering public break-up between the world's richest person and the world's most powerful is fraught with political and economic risks all round. Trump had scrapped the idea of a call with Musk and was even thinking of ditching the red Tesla he bought at the height of their bromance, White House officials told AFP. "Honestly I've been so busy working on China, working on Russia, working on Iran... I'm not thinking about Elon Musk, I just wish him well," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to his New Jersey golf club late Friday. Earlier, Trump told US broadcasters that he now wanted to focus instead on passing his "big, beautiful" mega-bill before Congress - Musk's harsh criticism of which had sparked their break-up. But the 78-year-old Republican could not stop himself from taking aim at his South African-born friend-turned-enemy. "You mean the man who has lost his mind?" Trump said in a call with ABC when asked about Musk, adding that he was "not particularly" interested in talking to the tycoon. Trump later told Fox News that Musk had "lost it." Just a week ago Trump gave Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after four months working there. 'Very disappointed' While there had been reports of tensions, the sheer speed at which their relationship imploded stunned Washington. After Musk called Trump's spending bill an "abomination" on Tuesday, Trump hit back in an Oval Office diatribe on Thursday in which he said he was "very disappointed" by the entrepreneur. Trump's spending bill faces a difficult path through Congress as it will raise the US deficit, while critics say it will cut health care for millions of the poorest Americans. The row then went nuclear, with Musk slinging insults at Trump and accusing him without evidence of being in government files on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump hit back with the power of the US government behind him, saying he could cancel the Space X boss's multi-billion-dollar rocket and satellite contracts. Trump struck a milder tone late Friday when asked how seriously he is considering cutting Musk's contracts. "It's a lot of money, it's a lot of subsidy, so we'll take a look - only if it's fair. Only if it's to be fair for him and the country," he said. Musk apparently also tried to de-escalate social media hostilities. The right-wing tech baron rowed back on a threat to scrap his company's Dragon spacecraft - vital for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. And on Friday the usually garrulous poster kept a low social media profile on his X social network. But the White House denied reports that they would talk. "The president does not intend to speak to Musk today," a senior White House official told AFP. A second official said Musk had requested a call. Tesla giveaway? Tesla stocks tanked more than 14% on Thursday amid the row, losing some $100 billion of the company's market value, but recovering partly Friday. Trump is now considering either selling or giving away the cherry red Tesla S that he announced he had bought from Musk's firm in March. The electric vehicle was still parked on the White House grounds on Friday. "He's thinking about it, yes," a senior White House official told AFP when asked if Trump would sell or give it away. Trump and Musk had posed inside the car at a bizarre event in March, when the president turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla showroom after viral protests against Musk's DOGE role. But while Trump appeared to hold many of the cards, Musk also has some to play. His wealth allowed him to be the biggest donor to Trump's 2024 campaign, to the tune of nearly $300 million. Any further support for the 2026 midterm election now appears in doubt - while Musk could also use his money to undermine Trump's support on the right.

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