SpaceX announces retirement of Dragon spacecraft following threats from President Trump



Elon Musk, who has enjoyed a close relationship with President Donald Trump from the presidential election to his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has stepped up his opposition to the president, saying he will immediately retire his SpaceX spacecraft after President Trump threatened to terminate Musk's government contracts.

Elon Musk: SpaceX to decommission Dragon over Trump threat

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/05/musk-trump-spacex-dragon-nasa.html

How NASA Would Struggle Without SpaceX if Trump Cancels Musk's Contracts - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/science/spacex-nasa-trump-elon-musk.html

Musk-Trump breakup puts billions in SpaceX contracts at risk, jolting US space program | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/spacex-will-decommission-dragon-spacecraft-musk-says-feud-with-trump-escalates-2025-06-05/

On June 6, 2025, President Trump posted on his social networking site Truth Social, 'The easiest way to save billions of dollars is to terminate Elon Musk's government subsidies and contracts. I've always been surprised that Biden didn't do this.' In response, Musk announced , 'In light of the President's statement regarding the cancellation of my government contract, I will immediately begin decommissioning my SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.'




Musk supported Trump and built a close working relationship with him, but at the same time, he also criticized tariff policies and other issues, and their opinions were not completely in sync. The relationship between the two deteriorated when Musk openly criticized the large-scale tax cut bill that President Trump drafted and passed the House of Representatives as 'nauseatingly abhorrent.' The bill aims to reduce tax revenues and spending, and the nonpartisan Budget Office estimates that it will reduce revenues by $3.67 trillion (about 527 trillion yen) and spending by $1.25 trillion (about 180 trillion yen) over the 10 years leading up to 2034, and points out that it will result in an increase in the fiscal deficit of $2.42 trillion (about 348 trillion yen).

The bill is expected to cause more than 10.9 million Americans to lose their health insurance by 2034, and it is estimated that it will cut funding by $267 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which served an estimated 41 million people in 2024.

On the other hand, the Trump campaign criticized the Budget Office's projections as inaccurate because they do not take into account the tax revenues that would result from President Trump's new high tariff policies and the boost to economic growth that would come from spending cuts and tax cuts.

President Trump has boasted that he will terminate Musk's government contracts under this bill, but concerns have emerged that if Musk's spacecraft are retired, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will essentially have no spacecraft available.



Since signing a contract with NASA to transport cargo and supplies in 2006, SpaceX has won contracts worth more than $20 billion from NASA, the Air Force and other government agencies, and continues to work with NASA. In 2020, it was awarded a contract to transport astronauts to the space station for the first time, transporting them aboard its Dragon spacecraft.

According to the New York Times, if Dragon were to be retired, NASA would have few alternatives to reach the International Space Station, which could significantly delay the space program. For example, NASA's contracted company, Boeing, is in the midst of repairs to its flagship Starliner, which is not expected to launch until 2026. Aerospace company Northrop Grumman also has a contract to carry cargo to the International Space Station with its Cygnus spacecraft, but it was damaged during transportation before launch and was forced to be scrapped. This situation may even require NASA to rent a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. It has also been pointed out that the suspension of Dragon's operations is likely to affect the International Space Station decommissioning plan under international agreements.

Musk has criticized President Trump's bill as an 'ugly bill' in anticipation of an increase in the budget deficit, but President Trump has countered , 'If you were going to turn your back on me, you should have done so months ago (because you've been planning it for a long time).' Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Trump, has loudly called for President Trump to sign an executive order to seize control of SpaceX and for Musk to be deported.

・Update on June 6, 2025 at 1:30 PM: Musk has retracted his previous statement.




in Posted by log1p_kr