A US astronaut has recently pointed out a concerning issue amidst the ongoing dispute between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, had been a close ally of Trump until recently. Musk had been chosen to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with reducing federal budgets.
He held this position until recently, after which tensions rose between him and the President.
The conflict began with Musk’s criticism of Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill,’ a significant piece of legislation that includes eliminating taxes on Social Security, overtime, and tips.
The bill, which has been contentious, was approved by the House of Republicans in late May and is now proceeding to the Senate.
Musk has expressed his opposition to the bill, calling it an ‘abomination.’
In response, Trump expressed his disappointment in Musk and claimed that Musk was aware of the bill’s details before leaving the administration, a claim Musk has denied.
The public disagreement has since intensified.
Musk has gone further by accusing Trump of being mentioned in Jeffrey Epstein’s files—an allegation denied by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Musk also threatened to retire SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which plays a crucial role in transporting cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS).
This could potentially leave the NASA crew currently in space without a means of returning to Earth.
NASA issued a statement to the BBC regarding Musk’s tweet: “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.”
Astronaut and engineer Emily Calandrelli, who recently flew with Blue Origin in November, has commented on the situation via Instagram, expressing her concerns.
“This is tweet is ROCKING the space industry right now,” Calandrelli stated in response to Musk’s threat: “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.”
Prior to Musk’s tweet, Trump had posted on Truth Social: “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 Biden didn’t do it!”
Calandrelli elaborated: “Terminating Musk’s contracts would mean the end of the SpaceX taxi (Dragon) to the ISS (currently the only ride we have for astronauts).”
This led to numerous unanswered questions, as Calandrelli pondered: “Will NASA decommission the ISS sooner rather than later?”
Musk was previously awarded an $843 million contract by NASA to assist in decommissioning the ISS by late 2030.
Calandrelli added: “Will they doubly invest in Boeing to try to get Starliner working as an ISS taxi? Or is this just a mantrum (man tantrum) and when they cool off they’ll say ‘just kidding! I didn’t mean it!'”
It turns out Calandrelli’s speculation wasn’t entirely off.
Shortly after his impulsive statement, Musk responded to a user on X who advised him to ‘cool off for a couple of days’ with a simple, “Good advice. OK, we won’t decommission Dragon.”
The crisis seems to be averted, for the time being.