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India Today
4 days ago
- Business
- India Today
Elon Musk backtracks on threat to scrap SpaceX Dragon Capsule after Trump clash
SpaceX boss Elon Musk's warning about retiring the Dragon spacecraft turned out to be more talk than takeoff. On a day filled with high-altitude social media drama, the world's richest man briefly claimed SpaceX would decommission its Dragon capsules, a key part of NASA's astronaut and cargo transport system, only to reverse course within hours."SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,' Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter), after President Donald Trump threatened to cut off government contracts to Musk's companies, including SpaceX and was unclear how serious Musk's threat was, but several hours later — in a reply to another X user, he said he wouldn't do we won't decommission Dragon.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2025 Dragon capsules are NASA's lifeline to the International Space Station (ISS), ferrying astronauts and food, science gear, and other supplies. The US space agency has relied on SpaceX since 2020 to reduce dependence on Russia's Soyuz capsules — which, by the way, still fly with at least one American now, SpaceX's Dragon remains the only US option for crew transport. Boeing's rival Starliner capsule is still grounded after a troubled test flight last year that forced two NASA astronauts to return via SpaceX's vehicle in March, nine months after agency not only contracts SpaceX to launch science missions and deliver ISS supplies, it has also tapped Musk's Starship mega-rocket to land humans on the moon later this decade. And last year, SpaceX was awarded the job of helping deorbit the ISS safely when its mission private missions depend on Dragon. Axiom Space, based in Houston, is chartering a flight next week using one of the the drama, NASA made no public comment about the brief Dragon scare.'It was unclear how serious Musk's threat was,' one observer noted — a statement that could serve as the unofficial motto of the SpaceX CEO's online for now, all systems are go. No capsules are being mothballed. No astronauts are stranded. And Dragon, like Musk's mood, is back on InTrending Reel
India Today
4 days ago
- Business
- India Today
$22,000,000,000: Musk-Trump breakup could force SpaceX to bear the alimony cost
About $22 billion of SpaceX's government contracts are at risk and multiple U.S. space programs could face dramatic changes in the fallout from Elon Musk and President Donald Trump's explosive feud on disagreement, rooted in Musk's criticism of Trump's tax-cut and spending legislation that began last week, quickly spiraled out of control. Trump lashed out at Musk when the president spoke in the Oval Office. Then in a series of X posts, Musk launched barbs at Trump, who threatened to terminate government contracts with Musk's the threat seriously, Musk said he would begin "decommissioning" SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft used by Nasa. Hours later, however, Musk appeared to reverse course. Responding to a follower on X urging him and Trump to "cool off and take a step back for a couple of days," Musk wrote: "Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon."Still, Musk's mere threat to abruptly pull its Dragon spacecraft out of service marked an unprecedented outburst from one of Nasa's leading commercial a roughly $5 billion contract, the Dragon capsule has been the agency's only U.S. vessel capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station, making Musk's company a critical element of the U.S. space feud raised questions about how far Trump, an often unpredictable force who has intervened in past procurement efforts, would go to punish Musk, who until last week headed Trump's initiative to downsize the federal the president prioritized political retaliation and canceled billions of dollars of SpaceX contracts with Nasa and the Pentagon, it could slow U.S. space press secretary Bethany Stevens declined to comment on SpaceX, but said: "We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the president's objectives in space are met."Musk and Trump's tussle ruptured an extraordinary relationship between a U.S. president and industry titan that had yielded some key favors for SpaceX: a proposed overhaul of Nasa's moon program into a Mars program, a planned effort to build a gigantic missile defense shield in space, and the naming of an Air Force leader who favored SpaceX in a contract Dragon out of service would likely disrupt the ISS program, which involves dozens of countries under a two-decade-old international agreement. But it was unclear how quickly such a decommissioning would occur. Nasa uses Russia's Soyuz spacecraft as a secondary ride for its astronauts to the rose to dominance long before Musk's foray into Republican politics last year, building formidable market share in the rocket launch and satellite communications industries that could shield it somewhat from Musk's split with Trump, analysts fortunately wouldn't be catastrophic, since SpaceX has developed itself into a global powerhouse that dominates most of the space industry, but there's no question that it would result in significant lost revenue and missed contract opportunities," said Justus Parmar, CEO of SpaceX investor Fortuna Trump in recent months, the U.S. 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 programs, while the U.S. space agency remains without a confirmed 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 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 budget plan sought to cancel Artemis moon missions beyond its third mission, effectively ending the over-budget Space Launch System rocket used for those the Senate Commerce Committee version of Trump's bill released late on Thursday would restore funding for missions four and five, providing at least $1 billion annually for SLS through 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 founded in 2002, has won $15 billion 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 company has also been awarded billions of dollars to launch a majority of the Pentagon's national security satellites into space while it builds a massive spy satellite constellation in orbit for a U.S. intelligence addition to not being in U.S. interests, former Nasa Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said canceling SpaceX's contracts would probably not be she also added, "A rogue CEO threatening to decommission spacecraft, putting astronauts' lives at risk, is untenable."Trending Reel
