Musk's threat to withdraw Dragon capsule would leave NASA with 1 option:
Russia
[June 06, 2025]
By The Associated Press
As President Donald Trump and Elon Musk argued on social media on
Thursday, the world's richest man threatened to decommission a space
capsule used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space
Station.
After Trump threatened to cut government contracts given to Musk's
SpaceX rocket company and his Starlink internet satellite services, Musk
responded via X that SpaceX "will begin decommissioning its Dragon
spacecraft immediately.”
It's unclear how serious Musk's threat was. But the capsule, developed
with the help of government contracts, is an important part of keeping
the space station running. NASA also relies heavily on SpaceX for other
programs including launching science missions and, later this decade,
returning astronauts to the surface of the moon.
The Dragon capsule
SpaceX is the only U.S. company capable right now of transporting crews
to and from the space station, using its four-person Dragon capsules.
Boeing’s Starliner capsule has flown astronauts only once; last year’s
test flight went so badly that the two NASA astronauts had to hitch a
ride back to Earth via SpaceX in March, more than nine months after
launching last June.
Starliner remains grounded as NASA decides whether to go with another
test flight with cargo, rather than a crew.
SpaceX also uses a Dragon capsule for its own privately run missions.
The next one of those is due to fly next week on a trip chartered by
Axiom Space, a Houston company.
Cargo versions of the Dragon capsule are also used to ferry food and
other supplies to the orbiting lab.
NASA's other option: Russia
Russia’s Soyuz capsules are the only other means of getting crews to the
space station right now.
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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference
and Exhibition, March 9, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh,
File)
The Soyuz capsules hold three people at a time. For now, each Soyuz
launch carries two Russians and one NASA astronaut, and each SpaceX
launch has one Russian on board under a barter system. That way, in
an emergency requiring a capsule to return, there is always someone
from the U.S. and Russian on board.
With its first crew launch for NASA in 2020 — the first orbital
flight of a crew by a private company — SpaceX enabled NASA to
reduce its reliance on Russia for crew transport. The Russian
flights had been costing the U.S. tens of millions of dollars per
seat, for years.
NASA has also used Russian spacecraft for cargo, along with U.S.
contractor Northrup Grumman.
SpaceX's other government launches
The company has used its rockets to launch several science missions
for NASA as well as military equipment.
Last year, SpaceX also won a NASA contract to help bring the space
station out of orbit when it is no longer usable.
SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket is what NASA has picked to get
astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon, at least for
the first two landing missions. Starship made its ninth test flight
last week from Texas, but tumbled out of control and broke apart.
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