Musk threatens to ground Dragon Capsule amid tiff with Trump: NASA's only backup? Russia

Hindustan Times

12 hours ago

Elon Musk threatened to decommission the Dragon Space Capsule, a spacecraft used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station, after a heated argument with US President Donald Trump on Thursday.
It was unclear how serious Musk's Dragon Space Capsule threat was, but several hours later — in a reply to another X user — he said he wouldn't do it.
But in case Musk decides to go ahead with his threat, US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will have only one option, Russia, to get crews to the International Space Station (ISS). Other than Dragon, Russia's Soyuz capsules are the only means of NASA getting crews to the space station.
Musk responded via X that SpaceX "will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,' shortly after Trump threatened to cut government contracts given to Musk's SpaceX and Starlink internet satellite services.
It is not yet known as to how credible Musk's threat was.
The Dragon capsule is a spacecraft that is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit. It is the only spacecraft that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth, and is the first private spacecraft to take humans to space.
The capsule, developed with the help of government contracts, is an important part of keeping NASA running. Cargo versions of the Dragon capsule are also used to ferry food and other supplies to the orbiting lab.
NASA relies heavily on SpaceX for other programs like science missions including a plan to return astronauts to the surface of the moon, later this decade.
Besides Dragon, Boeing's Starliner capsule has flown astronauts only once, in June 2024. The test flight did not go as planned and as a result two NASA astronauts had to take SpaceX's help to touch down on Earth only in March 2025.
Starliner remains grounded as it awaits NASA's decision whether to go with another test flight with cargo, rather than a crew.
SpaceX also uses Dragon capsule for its own privately run missions, for instance the one which is due to fly next week on a chartered trip by Axiom Space, a Houston company.
Other than Dragon, Russia's Soyuz capsules are the only means of NASA getting crews to the space station right now.
The Soyuz capsules hold three people at a time. For now, each Soyuz launch carries two Russians and one NASA astronaut, whereas each SpaceX launch seats one Russian on board. Hence, if there is a condition leading to an emergency, there is always someone from the US and Russia on board.
With its first crew launch for NASA in 2020, SpaceX enabled NASA to reduce its reliance on Russia for crew transport, cutting down its giant costs for space missions.
Musk's SpaceX has used its rockets to launch several science missions for NASA and for various military equipment as well.
Last year, SpaceX won a NASA contract to help bring the space station out of orbit when it is no longer usable.
SpaceX's Starship mega rocket is what NASA has picked to get astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon, at least for the first two landing missions. Starship made its ninth test flight last week from Texas, which turned out to be unsuccessful.