Elon Musk threatens to strand astronauts in space in brutal war with Donald Trump - Daily Star

Elon Musk threatens to strand astronauts in space in brutal war with Donald TrumpThe Space X tech billionaire insisted that he would decommission the vital spacecraft ferrying NASA

astronauts to and from the International Space Station after his bromance endedCommentsNewsWill Stone20:21, 06 Jun 2025Elon and Trump have had the mother of all rows(Image: AP) Elon Musk has

threatened to strand astronauts in space by taking his SpaceX Dragon landing pod away. The tech billionaire made the outrageous taunt amid his very public fallout with Orange Manbaby US

president Donald Trump.

He insisted that he would decommission the vital spacecraft ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The bromance between the world’s richest and most powerful

men lay in tatters after Trump threatened to terminate Musk’s multi-billion dollar US Government contracts.

‌ Trump’s “Big, Beautiful” £980 billion spending bill gutted electric vehicle tax credits, wiping nearly £22 billion off Tesla’s market value. Posting on his Truth Social site, Trump said

that Musk “went CRAZY!” after he took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy electric cars.

‌It's all gone sour(Image: AFP via Getty Images) “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,”

Trump said.

Posting on X, Musk replied: “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.”

Article continues below The Tesla founder’s post sparked alarm from science boffs, with astrophysicist Dr Meredith Wills posting on social media site BlueSky: “Is he really holding

astronauts hostage???””

Another posted: “RIP international space station.”

The bromance is over(Image: AFP via Getty Images)‌ Ars Technica’s Senior Space Editor Eric Berger warned that terminating the contracts would “both end the International Space Station and

simultaneously provide no way to safely deorbit it”.

Musk also claimed the Orange Manbaby features in the secret Jeffery Epstein files relating to the disgraced late financier and paedophile.

Trump also described Musk as “the man who has lost his mind” in a phone call with ABC News and says he is not interested in talking to him following their row.

‌ Any hopes of reconciliation between the two former allies were obliterated after Musk hinted at a truce, only for Trump to respond with full-scale personal attacks.

“I’m not even thinking about Elon,” the president said.

Astronauts could've copped it(Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)‌ “He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem.

“I won’t be speaking to him for a while, I guess, but I wish him well.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he

wanted.

Article continues below “The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”

SpaceX was contacted for comment, but Musk appeared to later backtrack, tweeting: “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.”