Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk walked back a threat to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spaceship “immediately” amid his public feud with President Donald Trump on Thursday.
The threat came after Trump posted on Truth Social that “the easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!"
"In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” Musk shot back on X.
Following that announcement, NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said "NASA will continue to execute upon the President’s vision for the future of space. We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President’s objectives in space are met."
In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately pic.twitter.com/NG9sijjkgW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
Hours later, however, the SpaceX CEO appeared to listen to the reasoned voice of X user @Fab25june.
"This is a shame this back and forth,” the user wrote. “You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days.”
"Good advice,” Musk responded. “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.”
Good advice.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2025
Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.
The two leaders were reportedly scheduled to speak by phone today but Trump shot that notion down Friday morning.
When he was asked about the call by reporters, Trump told ABC News, "You mean the man who has lost his mind?" He went on to note that he is "not particularly" interested in chatting with Musk after Thursday's war of words.