A heated feud between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump jeopardizes $22 billion in SpaceX government contracts, jeopardizing US space programs. The conflict erupted over Musk’s criticism of Trump’s tax cut and spending legislation, escalating when Trump threatened to terminate SpaceX contracts. In retaliation, Musk announced plans to decommission the Dragon spacecraft, NASA’s only US vessel for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Decommissioning Dragon could disrupt the ISS program, involving dozens of countries under a two-decade-old agreement, though the timeline remains unclear. NASA’s press secretary, Bethany Stevens, emphasized continued collaboration with industry partners to meet space objectives, declining to comment directly on SpaceX.

SpaceX’s dominance in the space industry offers some resilience, but analysts warn of significant revenue losses. Trump’s budget plan aims to cancel Artemis moon missions beyond the third, favoring Musk’s Mars ambitions, but the Senate’s restoration of funding for Artemis missions four and five signals resistance, testing Musk’s influence.