Elon Musk says SpaceX could begin 'decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft' after Trump threat to cancel contracts

Yahoo

5 hours ago

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Elon Musk is no longer seeing eye-to-eye with his former bestie in the White House.
The SpaceX founder and CEO recently wrapped up his 130-day appointment as a "special government employee," during which he led the cost- and regulation-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk and President Donald Trump seemingly parted on a positive note, sharing kind words about each other during an Oval Office press conference on May 30. "Today, it's about a man named Elon," Trump said to reporters last week, calling Musk "one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced."
But their public relationship began to sour shortly thereafter, following Musk's criticism of Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."
"This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it," Musk said via X on Tuesday (June 3).
Trump fired back, posting on his social media site Truth Social today (June 5) that "Elon was 'wearing thin,' and I asked him to leave."
The president followed that with another post, which said that the United States could save money by canceling government contracts and subsidies awarded to Musk's companies. In response to this threat, Musk shot back with one of his own.
"In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately," Musk posted on X, which he bought back in 2022, when it was still called Twitter.
It's hard to say when or how this spat will play out, but the current trajectory could point to a bleak outcome for American spaceflight.
Cancelation of SpaceX's government contracts would eliminate the country's ability to launch astronauts to space from American soil. SpaceX's crew and cargo Dragon spacecraft variants have changed the landscape of NASA operations aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and ushered in a new era of U.S. spaceflight.
The decommissioning of Dragon — if Musk was indeed serious about doing so, and not just calling Trump's bluff — would spell the virtual end of U.S.-based astronaut launches during one of the space station's most robust, traffic-heavy phases of operation — an absence that would likely be irreparable in the timeframe leading up to the space station's own decommissioning in 2030, which SpaceX has also been hired to oversee.
And, while Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has the potential to fill Dragon's crew-carrying shoes, it has faced a series of problems; Starliner is not yet certified to fly operational astronaut missions and is still several months away from launching again.
Some of SpaceX's more substantial government contracts include NASA's Commercial Crew Program and cargo resupply services for the ISS and the space station's deorbit vehicle. NASA also picked SpaceX's next-gen Starship spacecraft to be the first crewed lunar lander for its Artemis moon program. If all goes as planned, Starship will put NASA astronauts down on the moon for the first time in 2027, on the Artemis 3 mission. The cessation of these contracts — alongside the nearly 25% cut to NASA's overall budget and roughly 50% cut to its science programs that the White House has proposed for 2026 — could mark the end of NASA as we currently know it.
One Crew Dragon is currently docked at the ISS; it's in the middle of SpaceX's Crew-10 astronaut mission for NASA. The next Dragon in NASA's commercial crew lineup is slated to launch the Crew-11 mission no earlier than July. However, that mission may now be in jeopardy, along with many others.
It's unclear, however, what a decommissioning of Dragon would mean for SpaceX's other private spaceflight endeavors. Houston-based company Axiom Space is just days away from launching its fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS aboard a brand-new Dragon spacecraft, which was delivered to its launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center this week. SpaceX also recently carried out the first human spaceflight in a polar orbit around Earth as part of the private Fram2 astronaut mission, and broke similar ground with the first private spacewalk during the Polaris Dawn mission last September.
Related Stories:
— Elon Musk: SpaceX founder and revolutionary private space entrepreneur
— How President Trump could change NASA
— Experts alarmed as White House proposes 'largest single-year cut to NASA in American history'
That mission was part of Jared Isaacman's Polaris Program, which aims to expand the field of private spaceflight. Isaacman is a billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist who has used his two SpaceX spaceflights, Polaris Dawn and its predecessor mission Inspiration4, to raise money for Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Until recently, Isaacman was Trump's pick to become NASA administrator, and was expected to be confirmed by Congress this week. But the White House unexpectedly pulled his nomination over the weekend, possibly signaling the widening divide between President and Musk.
In an emailed response to Space.com regarding Trump's suggestion to cancel government contracts for Musk's companies, and to Musk's directive for SpaceX to decommission Dragon, NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said, "NASA will continue to execute upon the President's vision for the future of space. We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President's objectives in space are met."
Several hours later Thursday evening, Musk replied to an X post suggesting he and Trump both "cool off and take a step back for a couple of days." In response, Musk said, "Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon."
Editor's note: This story was updated June 6 to include Elon Musk's post reversing his decision to decommission Dragon.