Elon Musk’s feud with President Donald Trump has officially reached orbit.
Musk said in a post on X Thursday that SpaceX “will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately” in light of Trump’s statement that floated canceling the billionaire’s government contracts and subsidies.
The SpaceX CEO included a screenshot of Trump’s earlier Truth Social post, which said terminating Musk’s government contracts would be the “easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars.”
SpaceX’s Dragon spaceships are used to transport NASA astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station.
In a statement to Business Insider, Bethany Stevens, NASA press secretary, said: “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.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The comments came as the feud between the former allies exploded on Thursday, with Trump and Musk publicly trading insults on their respective social media platforms, Truth Social and X.
Musk’s government contracts are worth billions, with SpaceX working closely with NASA. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, designed to be reusable, can carry up to seven passengers to and from orbit and is the first private spacecraft to transport humans to and from the ISS, the company says.
Since 2020, NASA has relied on SpaceX’s Dragon to transport astronauts to and from orbit. The agency, which retired its space shuttle program in 2011, depended on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for crewed missions prior to partnering with SpaceX.
In 2024, NASA announced SpaceX was awarded a $843 million contract to help decommission the ISS by the early 2030s. The plan involved using a larger, super-powered Dragon spaceship to push the ISS out of orbit, eventually landing in a remote part of the ocean. NASA planned to transition to using privately-owned space stations in the future.
Steve Bannon, who served as the White House chief strategist in Trump’s first term, said in an interview Thursday that Trump should act immediately in response to Musk’s announcement about decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft.
“President Trump tonight should sign an executive order calling for the Defense Production Act,” Bannon said, referring to a federal law that grants the president authority to influence or control domestic industry in the name of national defense,”and seize SpaceX tonight before midnight.”
