Elon Musk threatens to withdraw SpaceX's crucial Dragon capsule in feud with Donald Trump

By&nbspEuronews pinch AP

Published connected 06/06/2025 - 13:27 GMT+2•Updated 13:58

SpaceX laminitis Elon Musk threatened to decommission a cardinal abstraction capsule utilized to return supplies to nan International Space Station (ISS) arsenic portion of his ignited feud pinch US President Donald Trump earlier appearing to relent.

Musk started nan conflict by calling Trump's "Big Bold Beautiful Bill," a fund reconciliation bill, a "disgusting abomination" connected his societal media level X.

The station ignited a bid of back-and-forth blows betwixt Trump and Musk complete societal media.

Trump past threatened to cancel authorities contracts fixed to Musk's SpaceX and Starlink net services, which Musk past responded to by saying he would decommission nan Dragon spacecraft immediately.

Musk later said he wouldn't decommission nan trade successful consequence to an relationship called Alaska (with nary evident narration to nan US state) that called nan backmost and distant a "shame" and asked Musk to "step backmost for a fewer days," to "cool off."

The Dragon capsule, developed pinch nan thief of authorities contracts, is an important portion of keeping nan ISS running.

The US' abstraction agency NASA besides relies heavy connected SpaceX for different programmes including launching subject missions and, later this decade, returning astronauts to nan aboveground of nan Moon.

The Dragon capsule

SpaceX is nan only US institution tin correct now of transporting crews to and from nan abstraction station, utilizing its four-person Dragon capsules.

Boeing’s Starliner capsule has flown astronauts only once; past year’s trial formation went truthful severely that nan 2 NASA astronauts had to hitch a thrust backmost to Earth via SpaceX successful March, much than 9 months aft launching past June.

SpaceX besides uses a Dragon capsule for its ain privately tally missions. The adjacent 1 of those is owed to alert adjacent week connected a travel chartered by Axiom Space, a Houston company.

The institution has utilized its rockets to motorboat respective subject missions for NASA arsenic good arsenic subject equipment.

Last year, SpaceX besides won a NASA statement to thief bring nan abstraction position retired of orbit erstwhile it is nary longer usable.

SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket is what NASA has picked to get astronauts from lunar orbit to nan aboveground of nan satellite for nan first 2 landing missions.

NASA's different option: Russia

Russia’s Soyuz capsules are nan only different intends of getting crews to nan abstraction position correct now.

The Soyuz capsules clasp 3 group astatine a time.

For now, each Soyuz motorboat carries 2 Russians and 1 NASA astronaut, and each SpaceX motorboat has 1 Russian connected committee nether a barter system. That way, successful an emergency requiring a capsule to return, location is ever personification from nan US and Russia connected board.

With its first unit motorboat for NASA successful 2020 — nan first orbital formation of a unit by a backstage institution - SpaceX enabled NASA to trim its reliance connected Russia for unit transport.

The Russian flights had been costing nan US tens of millions of dollars per seat, for years.

NASA has besides utilized Russian spacecraft for cargo, on pinch US contractor Northrup Grumman.