Are US space plans at risk? Uncertainty looms amid Trump-Musk feud

The dramatic spat between US President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk might result in risking the future of US space plans. Trump on Friday (Jun 6) said that he plans to “take a look” at Musk’s government contracts after he threatened to cut Musk's government subsidies and contracts, risking the future of NASA and SpaceX collaborations.

When asked by a reporter on Air Force One whether he planned to go ahead with his threat to cut Musk’s government subsidies, Trump said he did not rule it out.

“We’ll take a look at everything. It’s a lot of money. It’s a lot of subsidy. So we’ll take a look at that — only if it’s fair for him and for the country ... but it has to be fair,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday (Jun 5), Musk announced that SpaceX will decommission its Dragon spacecraft. “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” Musk wrote on X. He later retracted his statement, saying, “We won’t decommission Dragon.”

SpaceX’s dominance in US space programs

Founded in 2002, SpaceX has become the most dominant launch provider in the world. Its spacecrafts ferry astronauts to the International Space Station while its Starlink satellite provides the a global broadband. The space company is embedded in some of the Pentagon’s most sensitive projects, including tracking of hypersonic missiles.

The Crew Dragon is currently the only US spacecraft that is certified for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the ISS under a contract worth over $4.9 billion. The gumdrop-shaped capsule flies atop a Falcon 9 rocket and splashes down in the ocean. Its variant, Cargo Dragon, delivers supplies to the ISS for astronauts.

Crew Dragon’s certification in 2020 ended the reliance on Russian Soyuz rockets to carry astronauts to space after the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.

Apart from NASA missions, Crew Dragon also flies private missions, with the most recent being Fram2, which carried tourists over the Earth’s poles.

The next scheduled launch for the spacecraft is the Axiom-4 mission on Tuesday (Jun 10). The Crew Dragon will carry astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary to the space station.

NASA had hoped to certify Boeing's Starliner for crewed missions. However, the program has been met with severe delays. In a recent test flight last year, the spacecraft faced failure after it experienced propulsion issues en route to the orbital lab with its first astronaut crew.

The two astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore, were brought home aboard SpaceX Dragon spacecraft earlier this year. Starliner, on the other hand, returned empty after being deemed not safe for carrying the astronauts back home.

After Musk’s announcement to decommission the spacecraft, NASA spokeswoman Bethany Stevens said that the agency will continue to work on the president’s vision for the future of space.

“NASA will continue to execute upon the President’s vision for the future of space,” Stevens said on X. “We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President’s objectives in space are met.”