Home Business NASA, Pentagon Push For SpaceX Alternatives Amid Trump’s Feud With Musk

NASA, Pentagon Push For SpaceX Alternatives Amid Trump’s Feud With Musk

From left: The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launches on the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket; the Blue Origin rocket manufacturing facility; RocketLab’s Rutherford, a battery-powered rocket engine printed on 3D parts. (From left: Photos by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post; Phil Walter/Getty Images)

NASA and Pentagon officials moved swiftly this past week to urge competitors to Elon Musk’s SpaceX to more quickly develop alternative rockets and spacecraft after President Donald Trump threatened to cancel Space X’s contracts and Musk’s defiant response.

Government officials were especially stunned after Musk responded to Trump with a salvo of his own: SpaceX would stop flying its Dragon spacecraft, a move that would leave the space agency with no way to transport its astronauts to the International Space Station.

Musk later recanted his threat. But it alarmed officials at NASA, which entrusts SpaceX with the lives of its astronauts, and at the Pentagon, which relies heavily on the company to launch its most sensitive satellites.

Workers prepare the Crew Dragon Capsule on top of the Falcon 9 rocket. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

The worried reaction within space and national security agencies highlights the risks of the government’s heavy dependence on SpaceX for crucial tasks, including classified missions. SpaceX, with billions of dollars in government contracts, flies people and cargo to the ISS, launches satellites for the Pentagon and develops satellites used by intelligence agencies. The concerns are compounded by the fact that its competitors have been slow to catch up, leaving SpaceX’s dominance largely unchallenged and the government with few options.

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