Elon Musk retracts NASA rocket decommissioning threat
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More news: Elon Musk has walked back his threat to decommission the main rocket for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station after arguing on social media with US President Donald Trump over his tax-cut and spending bill.
In response to a social media comment urging Musk and Trump to “cool down”, the SpaceX CEO said “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon”.
Musk had initially threatened to decommission the rocket after Donald Trump floated the idea of cancelling contracts and subsidies with Musk's businesses, which include billions of dollars of work with NASA.
Musk says SpaceX will decommission NASA rocket after Trump's contract threat
More news: Elon Musk says SpaceX will decommission the spacecraft that brings astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station after US President Donald Trump threatened to terminate government contracts and subsidies for Musk’s businesses.
The Dragon spacecraft is the main spacecraft used by SpaceX to supply the International Space Station under contracts with NASA that run to 2030 and are collectively worth billions of dollars.
"In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately," Musk said in a social media post without further elaboration.
The public exchange across Musk’s X and Trump’s Truth Social is the latest in an escalating row after Musk opposed a tax cut and spending bill that the Congressional Budget Office estimates could increase federal debt by US$2.4 trillion over the next 10 years.
Musk first took jabs at the bill for its impact on the government’s budget deficit early last week before announcing his departure from the Trump administration and his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency, but he ramped up his rhetoric overnight.
At the time, Musk said his "scheduled time as a Special Government Employee" had concluded, but Trump said on Truth Social this morning that “Elon was ‘wearing thin’, I asked him to leave”.
Before Musk's comments on decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft, Trump said "I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago". He also said his 'Big Beautiful Bill' "puts our Country on a Path of Greatness".
Tesla shares plunge as Trump threatens to cancel Musk’s contracts in escalating feud
The news: US President Donald Trump threatened to terminate Elon Musk’s government contracts and subsidies, saying it would save “Billions and Billions of Dollars,” as a dramatic rupture between the two played out in real time.
What they said: "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!," Trump posted.
The fallout intensified earlier on Thursday (Friday AEST), when Trump, speaking from the Oval Office, said he was “very disappointed in Elon” over his repeated attacks on the president’s domestic policy bill, which he refers as his “big, beautiful bill”.
As Trump was speaking, Musk responded live on X, accusing Trump of “such ingratitude” and claiming, “without me, Trump would have lost the election.”
Musk had called the legislation a “disgusting abomination” that would “increase the already gigantic budget deficit,” while Trump claimed Musk’s opposition was driven by cuts to electric vehicle tax credits.
Musk denied that, posting “Whatever. Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.”
Minutes later, Musk also posted: "Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!"
The numbers: Shares in Musk’s Tesla fell as much as over 17% after the exchange.
The context: The bill passed the House by one vote and is now under Senate review. Musk spent nearly USD300 million backing Trump and Republican candidates last year, and served as a special government employee overseeing cost-cutting before leaving last week.
Just days ago, Trump praised him in the Oval Office as “one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced,” and Musk pledged to remain a “friend and adviser to the president.”
The two had closely aligned since Musk’s July endorsement, with Musk spending hundreds of millions backing Trump’s re-election campaign. The relationship publicly frayed after Musk criticised Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, then opposed the removal of his ally Jared Isaacman as NASA nominee. Trump said Isaacman’s past Democratic ties were “not appropriate.”
Trump also suggested Musk now suffers from what he calls “Trump derangement syndrome,” a phrase often used by Republicans to criticize Democrats and others who oppose the president.
“He’s not the first. People leave my administration and they love us. And then at some point they miss it so badly. And some of them embrace it. Some of them actually become hostile. It’s sort of Trump derangement syndrome,” Trump said.
