šØ Elon Musk Shuts Down Dragon Spacecraft Program Amid Clash with Trumpāā
In a stunning move, Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX will immediately begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft program. The decision follows a fiery escalation in his feud with Donald Trump, who recently threatened to cancel all government contracts tied to Muskās businesses.
Elon responded on X:
> āIn light of the Presidentās statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.ā
With that, one of the most critical pieces of U.S. space infrastructure is being taken offline. The Dragon capsulesāboth Cargo Dragon (Dragon 1) and Crew Dragon (Dragon 2)āhave been the sole American vehicles capable of transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Their shutdown leaves NASA and the space program in a precarious position, with no immediate backup.
Dragon 1, funded with $396 million under NASAās Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, handled cargo missions between 2010 and 2020. Dragon 2, which began service in 2019, expanded that capability to human flights and became NASAās primary ride after the retirement of the Shuttle and issues with Boeingās Starliner.
The decision also hits future projects hard.
Red Dragon, a Mars-focused concept, is shelved permanently.
Dragon XL, built for NASAās Lunar Gateway to support Artemis IV in 2028, is now uncertain. Dragon XL was to play a critical logistics role while Starship remains in development. That timeline is now in jeopardy.
This move comes at a time when NASA is more dependent than ever on SpaceX, and the abrupt end of Dragon casts serious doubt over both near-term ISS operations and long-term lunar ambitions.