US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk in the Oval Office before their public rift (File photo)
The US administration has reportedly launched a careful review of SpaceX contracts after the tech billionaire Elon Musk publicly clashed with President Donald Trump.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump has ordered the launch of a formal investigation of SpaceX’s federal contracts.
Observers say Musk’s rift with Trump is exposing his companies to all the perilous downsides of going to war with his former First Friend.
The review involves at least $22 billion in government funding tied to Musk’s space company. One of the contracts under review is a $5 billion NASA deal involving the Dragon spacecraft, the only American system currently flying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Trump said in June that they “will take a look at everything.”
Their dispute began in early June, when Musk publicly criticized Trump’s tax-and-spending policies and electric vehicle stance.
Trump fired back on his social media platform, Truth Social, branding Musk as “overly reliant” on federal subsidies. He went further, accusing Musk of hypocrisy over the EV mandate and suggesting Tesla and SpaceX would collapse without government aid.
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history,” Trump wrote. “Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.”
Trump has threatened to cut back on the amount of government subsidies his former close aide is receiving.
Observers say it is likely that Musk and Trump will remain locked in their dispute for some time, resulting in the reshaping of federal agencies, politics, and space exploration.
NASA and the Pentagon have been going along with Trump’s threats, pushing for SpaceX alternatives to fill in for the job.
Officials from NASA and the Pentagon have urged SpaceX competitors to more quickly develop alternative rockets and spacecraft.
However, early findings revealed that most of the contracts are too critical to cancel.
Both the Pentagon and NASA concluded that SpaceX’s work is indispensable to national security and human spaceflight.
