If SpaceX's Dragon capsule is decommissioned, it leaves NASA with only one viable option for International Space Station missions: Russia.
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SpaceX founder Elon Musk threatened to decommission a key space capsule used to take supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of his ignited feud with US President Donald Trump before appearing to relent.
Musk started the conflict by calling Trump's "Big Bold Beautiful Bill," a budget reconciliation bill, a "disgusting abomination" on his social media platform X.
The post ignited a series of back-and-forth blows between Trump and Musk over social media.
Trump then threatened to cancel government contracts given to Musk's SpaceX and Starlink internet services, which Musk then responded to by saying he would decommission the Dragon spacecraft immediately.
Musk later said he wouldn't decommission the craft in response to an account called Alaska (with no apparent relation to the US state) that called the back and forth a "shame" and asked Musk to "step back for a few days," to "cool off."
The Dragon capsule, developed with the help of government contracts, is an important part of keeping the ISS running.
The US' space agency NASA also relies heavily on SpaceX for other programmes including launching science missions and, later this decade, returning astronauts to the surface of the Moon.
The Dragon capsule
SpaceX is the only US company capable right now of transporting crews to and from the space station, using its four-person Dragon capsules.
Boeing’s Starliner capsule has flown astronauts only once; last year’s test flight went so badly that the two NASA astronauts had to hitch a ride back to Earth via SpaceX in March, more than nine months after launching last June.
SpaceX also uses a Dragon capsule for its own privately run missions. The next one of those is due to fly next week on a trip chartered by Axiom Space, a Houston company.
The company has used its rockets to launch several science missions for NASA as well as military equipment.
Last year, SpaceX also won a NASA contract to help bring the space station out of orbit when it is no longer usable.
SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket is what NASA has picked to get astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon for the first two landing missions.
NASA's other option: Russia
Russia’s Soyuz capsules are the only other means of getting crews to the space station right now.
The Soyuz capsules hold three people at a time.
For now, each Soyuz launch carries two Russians and one NASA astronaut, and each SpaceX launch has one Russian on board under a barter system. That way, in an emergency requiring a capsule to return, there is always someone from the US and Russia on board.
With its first crew launch for NASA in 2020 — the first orbital flight of a crew by a private company - SpaceX enabled NASA to reduce its reliance on Russia for crew transport.
The Russian flights had been costing the US tens of millions of dollars per seat, for years.
NASA has also used Russian spacecraft for cargo, along with US contractor Northrup Grumman.
