Dramatic move by Pentagon hint Trump could be siding with another billionaire amid Musk fallout

Daily Mail​

4 hours ago

The Pentagon appears to be contemplating pivoting away from Elon Musk 's SpaceX following the almighty blowup between President Donald Trump and the world's richest man earlier this week.
The fallout appears to be impacting the nation's space program as the Trump administration looks toward another billionaire to replace Musk in the race to Mars.
Officials at NASA and the Pentagon quietly reached out to SpaceX's competitors, urging them to accelerate development of alternative rockets and spacecraft.
Decisions appear to have been taken quickly after Musk made a defiant threat to pull SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, a lifeline to the International Space Station, after Trump first threatened to cancel SpaceX's lucrative government contracts.
'It turned really terrifying,' one NASA official admitted to the Washington Post after initially finding the feud 'entertaining.'
Although Musk eventually walked back his threat, the damage was done.
Officials from NASA and the Pentagon, already uneasy with their reliance on SpaceX, were rattled to the core.
SpaceX has become indispensable as it transports astronauts and cargo to the ISS, launches sensitive military satellites, and operates Starlink, the world's largest satellite constellation.
The flare-up served to remind officials of the risks of tying national interests to a mercurial billionaire.
'When you realize that he's willing to shut everything down just on an impulse … that kind of behavior and the dependence on him is dangerous,' a former space agency official said.
NASA insiders said Musk's threat 'crossed a line,' invoking memories of the 2018 episode when Musk smoked marijuana during a podcast interview, which prompted NASA to launch a safety investigation into SpaceX.
The clash was also inflamed by the White House's decision to abruptly withdraw Jared Isaacman's nomination as NASA Administrator.
Isaacman, closely aligned with Musk, had twice flown to space aboard SpaceX vehicles.
In the aftermath, government officials reached out to Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, RocketLab, and Stoke Space, querying when their rockets might be ready to shoulder critical missions.
Fatih Ozmen, CEO of Sierra Space, which is developing the Dream Chaser spaceplane, confirmed that NASA was 'working closely' with his company stating, 'NASA mentioned to us that they want diversity and do not want to rely on a single provider.'
For some insiders, it wasn't hard to connect the dots: Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, has long been a rival to Musk.
Now, with the Biden-era antagonism between Trump and Bezos thawing, some see a political recalibration.
Bezos' Blue Origin has lagged behind SpaceX for years, but its New Glenn rocket is finally gaining traction, albeit slowly.
The Pentagon's recent 'lanes' strategy to diversify launch providers now looks prescient, with officials seeking to avoid 'overreliance on any single provider or solution.'
A source familiar with the Defense Department's strategy said the White House sees an opening to back Bezos as a counterweight to Musk's volatility. 'They want someone who's predictable,' the person said to The Post.
Even Congress appeared to be spooked by the behavior.
A key committee demanded updates on Boeing's long-delayed Starliner capsule, which has struggled to match the reliability of Musk's Dragon.
NASA, under pressure, said Friday that Starliner's next mission could come 'early 2026,' though it remains unclear whether it will fly astronauts or cargo only.
Indeed, just how reliant NASA were on SpaceX was illustrated last year when American astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were left on the International Space Station by Boeing's troubled Starliner capsule.
Wilmore and Williams had set off for an eight-day Starliner test flight that swelled into a nine-month stay in space
Boeing, which has taken $2 billion in charges on its Starliner development, faces a looming decision by NASA to refly the spacecraft uncrewed before it carries humans again.
Boeing spent $410 million to fly a similar uncrewed mission in 2022 after a 2019 testing failure.
Reflying Starliner uncrewed 'seems like the logical thing to do,' Williams said, drawing comparisons with Elon Musk's SpaceX and Russian capsules that flew uncrewed missions before putting humans aboard. She and NASA are pushing for that outcome, Williams added.
'I think that's the correct path,' said Williams, who is 'hoping Boeing and NASA will decide on that same course of action' soon.
Results from Starliner testing planned throughout the summer are expected to determine whether the spacecraft can fly humans on its next flight, NASA officials have said.
Todd Harrison, a defense analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, likened Musk's social media post to 'an embargo of the space station.'
'Musk was saying he is going to cut NASA off from its own laboratory in space,' he added.
Harrison also recalled Musk's refusal to activate Starlink Internet for a Ukrainian military strike in 2022, a decision that raised alarms about national defense being at the mercy of a single CEO.
'The nation's missile defenses could be held hostage to the twittering whims of Elon Musk,' Harrison warned.
Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, who worked at SpaceX, voiced the fears of many in the astronaut corps: 'When your hopes and dreams are tied up in this, you can't help but think, "Oh my goodness, am I going to fly in space?"'
Meanwhile, Trump, who once championed Musk as a visionary, appears to be cooling.
His allies note that the president has no tolerance for perceived disloyalty and Musk's defiance has not gone unnoticed.
Some aides believe Trump's sharp pivot is personal as much as political.
RocketLab's CEO Peter Beck had previously warned how Musk's acquisition of Twitter, now rebranded as X, and his flirtation with politics could backfire.
'It certainly makes people uncomfortable. At the end of the day, if you're delivering important national security missions, the buck stops with the CEO,' Beck said.
Pentagon officials remain wary, not least because few companies have rockets certified for critical national security missions.
Blue Origin's New Glenn has flown once, and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan only twice. RocketLab's Neutron has yet to launch at all.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 still dominates, launching with near clockwork precision.
But now, Trump's administration appears ready to gamble on fostering competition, even if it means leaning more heavily on Bezos.
'Sierra Space stands ready,' Ozmen declared. Others in the sector are similarly jockeying for position, sensing that Musk's once-unshakable grip may be loosening.