WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – Elon Musk’s threat, which he later retracted, to cut off NASA’s use of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft would be a huge blow to NASA, depriving the space agency of the only American vehicle capable of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station and dramatically changing how NASA would access the 100 billion U.S. dollars orbiting laboratory, The Washington Post reported.
The threat, posted on X, came during an escalating fight between the wealthiest man in the world and President Donald Trump, after Trump had threatened to cancel all of Musk’s company’s federal contracts. 
“Given SpaceX’s importance to multiple federal programs, severing those relationships could leave NASA as well as the Pentagon and intelligence agencies in a lurch,” noted the report.
Several hours after making the threat, Musk relented, saying in response to a post on X that he should cool off and reconsider. 
“Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon,” he said. Over the years, SpaceX has become a vital contractor, launching sensitive national security payloads such as satellites that provide missile warning, battlefield communication and guide munitions to precise targets.
In a statement, Bethany Stevens, NASA’s press secretary, did not address how NASA would continue to fly its astronauts to the ISS without SpaceX, writing only that “NASA will continue to execute upon the President’s vision for the fulfillment of space. We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President’s objectives in space are met.”
The results of a survey conducted by the YouGov research service showed most U.S. residents are not ready to voice their support for either side in the public dispute between Trump and Musk.
The poll was carried out on June 5, covering 3,800 adult U.S. residents, TASS reported.
The survey revealed that 52% of Americans do not sympathize with either side of the feud. At the same time, 28% of U.S. citizens expressed support for Trump, while 8% of the country’s residents sided with Musk. Another 11% of respondents were unable to form an opinion on the public conflict.
Among supporters of the U.S. Republican Party, 71% of respondents sympathize with Trump, while 6% are on Musk’s side. With Democrats, 11% back Musk and 4% stand with the U.S. leader, but 80% are not on either side. The same goes for independent voters, most of whom back neither the president, nor the billionaire (59%). Only 18% of them side with Trump, and another 8% — with the owner of SpaceX and X social network.