Elon Musk threatens to withdraw SpaceX capsule. Here’s what that would mean for NASA.

By The Associated Press 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 Related Articles Lopez If supporters for our elders get deported who takes their place Supreme Court blocks Mexico s B lawsuit alleging US gunmakers have fueled cartel violence AmeriCorps must restore funding and workers to states that sued over cuts federal judge rules Supreme Court makes it easier to claim reverse discrimination in employment Trump s expedition ban on countries What to know who s exempted After Trump threatened to cut ruling body 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 right away It s unclear how serious Musk s threat was But the capsule developed with the help of executive contracts is an fundamental part of keeping the space station running NASA also relies heavily on SpaceX for other programs including launching science missions and later this decade returning astronauts to the surface of the moon The Dragon capsule SpaceX is the only U S 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 Starliner remains grounded as NASA decides whether to go with another test flight with cargo rather than a crew SpaceX also uses a Dragon capsule for its own privately run missions The next one of those is due to fly next week on a trip chartered by Axiom Space a Houston company Cargo versions of the Dragon capsule are also used to ferry food and other supplies to the orbiting lab NASA s other option Russia Russia s Soyuz capsules are the only other means of getting crews to the space station right now The Soyuz capsules hold three people at a time For now each Soyuz launch carries two Russians and one NASA astronaut and each SpaceX launch has one Russian on board under a barter system That way in an urgency requiring a capsule to return there is unfailingly someone from the U S and Russian on board With its first crew launch for NASA in the first orbital flight of a crew by a private company SpaceX enabled NASA to reduce its reliance on Russia for crew conveyance The Russian flights had been costing the U S tens of millions of dollars per seat for years NASA has also used Russian spacecraft for cargo along with U S contractor Northrup Grumman SpaceX s other ruling body launches The company has used its rockets to launch several science missions for NASA as well as military equipment Last year SpaceX also won a NASA contract to help bring the space station out of orbit when it is no longer usable SpaceX s Starship mega rocket is what NASA has picked to get astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon at least for the first two landing missions Starship made its ninth test flight last week from Texas but tumbled out of control and broke apart The Associated Press Fitness and Science Department receives promotion from the Howard Hughes Healthcare Institute s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The AP is solely responsible for all content