Billionaire Elon Musk, who has been publicly feuding with US President Donald Trump, on Friday announced the immediate “decommissioning” of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft that is used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), only to backtrack a few hours later, saying he is with “Team America”.
The immediate trigger behind the now withdrawn announcement was the President’s threat to terminate government contracts with the Tesla CEO, amid a series of spiraling disagreements rooted in the latter’s criticism of the administration’s tax-cut and spending legislation that erupted last week.
Mr Musk’s companies include government contractor SpaceX and its satellite unit Starlink.
“In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” Mr Musk posted on X.
In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately pic.twitter.com/NG9sijjkgW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
NASA relies on the Dragon spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) under a contract worth roughly $4.9 billion. The capsule is the only US spacecraft capable of flying humans in orbit.
Taking Dragon out of service would disrupt the ISS program, which involves dozens of countries under an international agreement signed over two decades ago. Russia’s Soyuz system is the only other crewed spacecraft that sends astronauts to the ISS, Reuters reported.
However, after an X user slammed the most powerful Trump and world’s richest Musk for their “shameful” fight and asked them to “take a step back for a couple of days”, the Tesla CEO said: “Good advice. Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon”.
Good advice.
Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2025
Subsequently, Mr Musk reshared a photo of the US flag against the backdrop of the Dragon on X, saying “Team America”.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Team America 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸🇺🇸 https://t.co/Y127aEcTwH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2025
Mr Musk’s decision to decommission came minutes after Mr Trump took a swipe at the billionaire and suggested terminating his governmental subsidies and contracts to “billions of dollars”.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that (his predecessor Joe) Biden didn’t do it,” he said in a post on Truth Social.
The hostilities between world’s most powerful Trump and world’s richest Musk began when the former criticised the latter in the Oval Office on Thursday.
“ I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden, he had a problem,” the President said, referring to the government;s flagship spending legislation.
The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year https://t.co/rbBC11iynE
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
The clash comes less than a week since Mr Trump held a grand Oval Office farewell for Mr Musk as he wrapped up his time leading the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
South African-born Musk hit back minutes later, saying the President’s claims that he had advance sight of the bill were “false”. “Whatever”, he added above a video of Mr Trump saying Mr Musk was upset about the loss of subsidies for electric vehicles.
The Tesla CEO then ratcheted up the public spat even further, saying the Republican would have lost the election without his support. He was the biggest donor to Mr Trump’s campaign, to the tune of nearly $300 million.
Tesla shares fell sharply on Wall Street, down eight percent, after his comments, in a sign of the huge stakes for a falling out between the world’s richest man and its most powerful.
On Thursday, Mr Musk said the US President’s tariffs, which has sent global markets into a tizzy, will “cause a recession in the second half of this year”.
