In row with Trump, Musk says will end critical U.S. spaceship program

SpaceX main Elon Musk said helium would statesman “decommissioning” his company’s Dragon spacecraft. File | Photo Credit: Reuters

SpaceX main Elon Musk said connected Thursday (June 5, 2025) helium would statesman "decommissioning" his company's Dragon spacecraft — captious for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station — aft U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to terminate his authorities contracts.

"In airy of the President's connection astir cancellation of my authorities contracts, @SpaceX volition statesman decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately," Mr. Musk wrote connected X.

The comments — which the mercurial billionaire aboriginal appeared to locomotion backmost — came aft Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk's astir year-long governmental confederation imploded successful spectacular fashion, with the 2 trading nationalist insults connected societal media.

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SpaceX's Crew Dragon — a gumdrop-shaped capsule that flies atop a Falcon 9 rocket and splashes down successful the water — is presently the lone US spacecraft certified to transportation unit to the ISS nether a declaration worthy much than $4.9 billion.

A variant, Cargo Dragon, delivers supplies, arsenic the sanction suggests.

Following Musk's announcement, NASA spokeswoman Bethany Stevens said connected X that the authorities abstraction bureau would "continue to execute upon the President's imaginativeness for the aboriginal of space."

"We volition proceed to enactment with our manufacture partners to guarantee the President's objectives successful abstraction are met," she said.

NASA had hoped to certify Boeing's Starliner for crewed missions, but that programme has faced terrible delays.

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Its astir caller trial formation past twelvemonth ended successful nonaccomplishment aft the spacecraft experienced propulsion issues en way to the orbital laboratory with its archetypal astronaut crew.

The Starliner yet returned to Earth empty, portion the 2 astronauts were brought location by SpaceX earlier this year.

Crew Dragon's certification successful 2020 ended astir a decennary of US reliance connected Russian Soyuz rockets to transport astronauts pursuing the status of the Space Shuttle programme successful 2011.

American astronauts inactive alert aboard Soyuz rockets, portion Russian cosmonauts thrust connected Crew Dragons nether a longstanding seat-swap agreement.

In summation to NASA missions, Crew Dragon besides flies backstage missions -- astir precocious Fram2, which carried tourists implicit the Earth's poles.

The adjacent scheduled unit motorboat is Tuesday's Axiom-4 mission, which volition spot a Crew Dragon transport astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary to the ISS.

Published - June 06, 2025 08:50 americium IST