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Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump have intensified their public feud, reaching new heights on Thursday. The controversy began after Trump suggested canceling Musk's government contracts and subsidies to save billions of dollars in the federal budget. Musk initially responded by announcing that SpaceX would commence the decommissioning of its Dragon spacecraft, a decision he later reversed.

The SpaceX CEO shared Trump's statement from Truth Social, which ignited a series of contentious exchanges between the two influential figures on their respective social media platforms. Trump's original post suggested that terminating Musk's government contracts would effectively cut down on spending, a claim that did not sit well with Musk.

Following the announcement, Musk re-evaluated his stance just five hours later, a move influenced by the advice of a user on X, formerly known as Twitter. User Fab25june prompted both parties to cool off and take a step back. Musk agreed, stating, "Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon."

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft plays a crucial role in NASA's operations, being used to transport astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Since NASA's partnership with SpaceX began in 2020, the Dragon spacecraft has been a vital asset, especially after NASA retired its space shuttle program in 2011 and relied on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for crewed missions.

The tension escalated as Trump and Musk exchanged insults online. Musk's government contracts, valued in the billions, are central to NASA's missions. SpaceX was awarded an $843 million contract in 2024 to help decommission the ISS by the early 2030s. The task would involve using a more advanced Dragon spacecraft to guide the ISS safely out of orbit to a remote ocean location, allowing NASA to transition to private space stations.

Steve Bannon, Trump's former White House chief strategist, weighed in on the situation, urging Trump to act swiftly in response to Musk's announcement. Bannon suggested that Trump should invoke the Defense Production Act to take control of SpaceX.

The public spectacle between Musk and Trump underscores the significant stakes involved, given the billions of dollars and critical national projects tied to SpaceX's operations.