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Zorro

(17,548 posts)
Thu Jun 5, 2025, 10:40 PM Jun 5

Musk Walks Back Threat to Decommission Dragon Spacecraft

Source: Bloomberg News

Elon Musk seemingly backed down from a threat to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft that ferries cargo and people to the International Space Station for the US, made during an escalation of a spat between the billionaire and President Donald Trump.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is the company’s primary vehicle for sending astronauts and cargo to orbit. The company has billions of dollars in contracts with NASA to send the agency’s astronauts on periodic trips to and from the ISS, which helps the space agency to maintain an uninterrupted presence at the space station until its retirement by the end of 2030.

Musk initially pledged to decommission the spacecraft after Trump’s threat to pull Musk’s governmental contracts, which was prompted by Musk’s near-incessant bashing of the president’s tax bill on X, his social media service.

However, just hours later, he responded to a post suggesting he take a step back and cool off for a couple of days, replying “Good advice. OK, we won’t decommission Dragon.”

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-05/musk-says-spacex-to-decommission-dragon-spacecraft-immediately-mbjtsokw



Seems this was just a shot across trump's bow. I hope Musk keeps torturing Trump from here on out.
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Septua

(2,800 posts)
1. It's hard to find someone as self-serving and crazy as Trump...
Thu Jun 5, 2025, 10:45 PM
Jun 5

..but Musk is pretty close.

Lovie777

(18,890 posts)
4. Psychopaths are the GQP.........................
Thu Jun 5, 2025, 10:51 PM
Jun 5

every single day the GQPs causes some form of chaos. The extreme dislike of them grows.

mdbl

(6,666 posts)
11. Probably. Also SpaceX.
Fri Jun 6, 2025, 08:46 AM
Jun 6

It will be non-existent without government contracts. Of course I never thought removing NASA as the only space agency was a good idea anyway.

Xolodno

(7,048 posts)
7. US Contracts were just the largest of his customer base.
Thu Jun 5, 2025, 11:15 PM
Jun 5

Private companies and other nations may prove to be a new customer base. Plus after the midterms, guessing a new Congress will reinstate those contracts with a veto proof vote. We still need those rockets, otherwise we go right back to relying on older ones, the ESA and Russia.

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