Iconic SpaceX Dragon Program ‘Marked Safe’ from Trump-Musk Feud…for Now
The four Dragon craft have been given the following names: Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance, Freedom. I hope that these two these two Titans have resilient egos that can endure a few sharp barbs and they return to the endeavors that help secure American freedoms, prosperity, and a successful space program.
My Legal Insurrection colleague Elizabeth Stauffer has a wonderful synopsis of the current status of the media feud between President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
The exchange was truly “The Clash of the Titans”, marked by a sharp and public breakdown of their previously close relationship and centered around disagreements over the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’.
I am withholding judgment on their heated engagements. In reviewing the steady stream of X-post drama in my feed, I keep in mind 3 facts.
1) Both men love the United States of America dearly and have made sacrifices for it.
2) Both men are driven and highly successful in their endeavors.
3) Both men have big brains, big egos, and small verbal filters.
Perhaps the meme that I have enjoyed most summarizing the drama is based on “The Lord of the Rings”.
MUT’s LoTR Meme of Day https://t.co/PbuEmCYtHR
— Leslie Eastman ☥ (@Mutnodjmet) June 6, 2025
All of this being noted, I would like to turn my attention to the engagement that actually troubled me the most. My eyebrows began to rise when Trump threatened to terminate government contracts with Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, as a budget-saving measure.
The post led the the most lunatic take on the subject from former Trump advisor Steve Bannon.
Oh, stuff a sock in it.#MayorOfCrazyTown https://t.co/5qY1zhIq1F
— tree hugging s*ster 🎃 (@WelbornBeege) June 6, 2025
The dispute caused Tesla’s stock to plunge over 14% in a single day, wiping out about $150 billion in market value, the largest single-day loss in Tesla’s history.
The losses were an indication of what might be at stake for Musk, as he breaks with a White House known for wielding the power of government against what it sees as enemies.
As the dispute devolved, Trump threatened to cut off government contracts to Musk’s companies, including rocket firm SpaceX, which has contracts worth tens of billions of dollars with the government.
“Go ahead, make my day,” Musk fired back in response to the threat.
Musk briefly threatened to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which transports astronauts to the International Space Station, as retaliation for Trump’s threats.
So weird, some random small X account got Elon to pause on decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft after Trump hinted at cancelling Elon’s government contracts. pic.twitter.com/EWMNPsUz6b
— Yoshi The Patriot (@yoshithepatriot) June 6, 2025
Fortunately, Musk rescinded the threat.
BREAKING: Musk now says won’t decommission Dragon spacecraft
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) June 6, 2025
The SpaceX Dragon program stands as one of the most significant achievements in modern spaceflight, marking a transformative shift in both commercial and government access to space. This is a program that needs support and protection, and should not be made the target of a threat by anyone.
The original Dragon 1 became the first privately developed spacecraft to successfully rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station (ISS) in May 2012, demonstrating the feasibility of using commercial vehicles for critical space operations. Over a dozen years later, the program is bigger and even more beautiful than ever.
The introduction of Dragon 2, specifically Crew Dragon, restored American crew launch capability after a nine-year gap following the Space Shuttle’s retirement. The first uncrewed Demo-1 mission in March 2019 and the historic crewed Demo-2 mission in May 2020 paved the way for regular, operational crewed flights from U.S. soil.
Crew Dragon enabled the first all-civilian orbital mission (Inspiration4, September 2021) and the first fully private mission to the ISS (Axiom Mission 1, April 2022), proving the viability of commercial human spaceflight and space tourism.
When NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched to the ISS aboard Boeing’s Starliner, their eight day mission morphed into a 9-month stay. To safely return the stranded astronauts, NASA turned to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, as I recounted in a series of posts on the subject.
SpaceX’s Dragon program is the backbone of U.S. crewed and cargo access to the ISS, with both Crew Dragon (for astronauts) and Cargo Dragon (for supplies and experiments) flying regular missions for NASA and commercial partners.
The four Dragon craft have been given the following names: Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance, Freedom. I hope that these two Titans have resilient egos that can endure a few sharp barbs and they return to the endeavors that help secure American freedoms, prosperity, and a successful space program.
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Comments
Terminating Musks government contracts would be stupid and would completely doom any space program for the foreseeable future. All his other companies are valuable as well. Even Tesla is valuable although I
agree that EV tax benefits should be terminated. They should never have existed in the first place.
As for Steve Bannon, he is an ignorant idiot and I’m ready to either return him to prison or deport him. Musk contributes on many levels to the US. Bannon never contributed much of anything once he left the navy.
There’s no reason that any Musk contract should be jeopardized. Musks’s companies tend to deliver better products at lower prices more reliably than anyone else. It should not even be contemplated to reconsider any of them.
Trump should just stick to name-calling and trash-talking in this little spat. It’s funny and harmless.
It was Musk who stated he was going to shut down the dragon, not Trump
I hope Musk doesn’t skip any needed meds. Body slamming a Cabinet Secretary in the WH is not inspiring on one’s CV. Musk once said no one should want his intelligence and he proved it. He did the country a great service with DOGE, but probably failed to grasp all of the hindrances that one must negotiate in the world of politics,,,, Trump V1.0 didn’t either. I hope Musk V2.0 has success upon success with all his endeavors. Super Heavy to the stars!
It’s not meds, Musk is somewhat autistic. I’m on the Asperger Syndrome spectrum, we don’t handle emotions well. Or not getting our way.
Felt like reading my own thoughts on this, Leslie.
“Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance, Freedom”
Traditional to the point of cliche. Perhaps it’s time for new patriotic memes.
Competence, Merit, Innovation, Dedication…
Both sets are good. I say all these names.
This feud was foolish. There may be room in the sky for only one sun but this kind of thing will break the MAGA movement quicker than a Congress full of RINOs.
Show of hands.
How many people really believe that it’s a good idea to have so much of the American space program subject to the whims of two men?
you mean as opposed to the whims of 1 man when it was just nasa?
fyi: there are a growing number of countries around the world that do launches now. only 3
that we can use for manned launches though. that could change if bezos company ever gets its act together,
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