NEED TO KNOW
- Elon Musk appears to have walked back a threat to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft amid his ongoing feud with President Donald Trump
- The comment was made after Trump had threatened to pull the billionaire’s government contracts and subsidies
- In June 2024, NASA awarded SpaceX a $843 million contract to help deorbit the ISS, which will see the end of its operational life in 2030
Elon Musk threatened to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft amid his feud with President Donald Trump, but seemingly has already walked back that claim.
Tensions between the SpaceX CEO and the 47th president of the United States escalated on Thursday, June 5, just days after Musk announced he was departing the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
On Tuesday, June 3, Musk criticized Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” on X, calling it a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill” and “a disgusting abomination.”
Trump shot back at Musk in a post shared Thursday on Truth Social, saying “the easiest way” for the U.S. government to save money is to “terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”
Musk rebutted on X a short time later. “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” he wrote.
A few hours later, however, Musk appeared to walk back his comment after a user by the name of “Fab25june” suggested the SpaceX founder “cool off and take a step back for a couple of days.”
“Good advice,” Musk replied. “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.”
The Dragon spacecraft has completed more than 50 missions, including 46 visits to the International Space Station (ISS), according to its website.
According to SpaceX, the ship “is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond” and “is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth, and is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station.”
In June 2024, NASA announced SpaceX was awarded a $843 million contract to help deorbit the ISS, which will see the end of its operational life in 2030.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Bethany Stevens, NASA press secretary, said in a statement on X that “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.”
Neither the White House nor SpaceX responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
Read the full article here
