Elon Musk threatens to shut down SpaceX capsule: Is US space travel in danger?

It's not just a dispute between two billionaire alpha males. The spat between Elon Musk and Donald Trump could pose a serious threat to US space travel. The feud escalated further when Musk, head of the private space company SpaceX, announced he would ground his "Dragon" space capsule. This was a reaction to Trump's claims that billions could be saved by terminating Musk's company's government contracts.

In this case, nearly $22 billion would be at stake. This is the value of the contracts between the US government and SpaceX, as reported by the Reuters news agency . Several space programs would be affected by the austerity measures proposed by Trump.

Musk's response to the US President's threat was prompt: "In light of the President's statement canceling my government contracts, @SpaceX will immediately begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft," he wrote on X on Thursday.

If Musk follows through on his announcement, it would have serious consequences: Among other things, astronauts would no longer be able to launch into space from American soil. Such missions are currently exclusively carried out by SpaceX's "Dragon" space capsule. After the end of the Space Shuttle program, the US relied on Russian spacecraft to fly into space for years until SpaceX came along with "Dragon."

Aerospace manufacturer Boeing attempted to establish its Starliner spacecraft as an astronaut transport vehicle last year, but technical problems complicated the mission. The crew—NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore—ultimately had to stay on the International Space Station (ISS) longer than planned while Starliner returned to Earth unmanned.

After their stay in zero gravity, astronauts struggle with various physical ailments—sometimes even psychological ones. A rehabilitation program on Earth developed by NASA is designed to get them back on their feet.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also produces space capsules with his company Blue Origin – but so far, they've only been used for short trips into space. Most recently, US singer Katy Perry and Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sánchez flew in them.

Trump's threat to terminate the government contracts with SpaceX would be no less consequential. It would, for example, jeopardize the upcoming Artemis moon missions. Musk's giant rocket, Starship, is actually planned to take over the Artemis 3 mission, which is intended to land astronauts on the moon again. The expiration of the contracts, combined with the radical budget cuts at NASA, could spell the end of the space agency as we know it today.

It's not yet clear whether Trump and Musk will follow through on their threats. Musk, in any case, seems to have backtracked for the moment. A few hours after his post, he responded to a follower on X who urged him and Trump to "calm down and step back for a few days." "Good advice. Okay, we're not going to decommission Dragon," Musk wrote in response.

Nevertheless, the mutual threats are likely to further widen the rift between Trump and Musk. And so the question arises: How far would Trump go to rebuke Musk? To deliver a decisive blow that would silence the SpaceX CEO once and for all? Would he jeopardize space travel—a vital economic sector in the US—just to harass his adversary?

The White House declined to comment further on the dispute. NASA is also keeping quiet. In response to a request from the news portal space.com, NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens simply said: "NASA will continue to execute the President's vision for the future of space. We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President's goals in space are achieved."