NASA also relies heavily on SpaceX for other programmes, including launching science missions and, later this decade, returning astronauts to the surface of the moon
(From left) Tesla CEO Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump speak to the press as they stand next to a Tesla vehicle on the South Portico of the White House earlier this year. File pic/AFP
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 (ISS).
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 programmes, including launching science missions and, later this decade, returning astronauts to the surface of the moon.
The Dragon capsule
SpaceX is the only US 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. SpaceX also uses a Dragon capsule for its own privately run missions, one of which is due next week.
Russia only other option
Russia’s Soyuz capsules are the only other means of getting crews to the space station right now. NASA has also used Russian spacecraft for cargo.
Meanwhile, shares of Musk’s electric vehicle maker Tesla plunged more than 14 per cent in a stunning wipeout as investors dumped holdings amid a bitter war of words between the president and the world’s richest man. By the end of the trading day, $150 billion of Tesla’s value had been erased, more than what it would take to buy all the shares of Starbucks and hundreds of other big publicly traded US companies.
Judge blocks ban on Harvard
A federal judge late on Thursday temporarily blocked an order by President Donald Trump that banned foreign students from entering the US to attend Harvard University. The order would prevent the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college from enrolling a quarter of its students, who account for much of its research and scholarship.
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