Elon Musk says he will no longer decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spaceship after a threat from President Donald Trump to terminate Musk’s contracts.
The public feud between the former allies escalated Thursday with a war of words.
Trump posted, “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!”
Musk responded that the Dragon spacecraft would be decommissioned.
“In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” the billionaire posted.
NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens then said, “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.”
Musk then heeded the advice of an X user.
“This is a shame this back and forth,” the user posted. “You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days.”
“Good advice,” Musk responded. “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.”
Trump and Musk were scheduled to speak by phone Friday, but Trump told ABC News, “You mean the man who has lost his mind?”
