Musk-Trump breakup puts billions in SpaceX contracts at risk, jolting US space program

Musk-Trump breakup puts billions in SpaceX contracts at risk, jolting US space program
SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, on June 5, 2025. (REUTERS)
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Updated 06 June 2025
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Musk-Trump breakup puts billions in SpaceX contracts at risk, jolting US space program

Musk-Trump breakup puts billions in SpaceX contracts at risk, jolting US space program
  • Trump threatens to cancel Musk companies’ contracts amid tax cut bill dispute
  • Musk says SpaceX will decommission spacecraft used by NASA

WASHINGTON: About $22 billion worth of SpaceX’s government contracts is at risk and multiple US space programs could face dramatic changes in the fallout of Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s explosive feud on Thursday.
The disagreement, rooted in Musk’s criticism of Trump’s tax-cut and spending legislation that began last week, quickly spiraled out of control. Trump lashed out at Musk when the president spoke in the Oval Office. Then in a series of X posts, Musk launched barbs at Trump, who threatened to terminate government contracts with Musk’s companies.
Taking the threat seriously, Musk said he would begin “decommissioning” SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft used by NASA. Under a roughly $5 billion contract, the craft has been the agency’s only US vessel capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station, making Musk’s company a critical element of the US space program.




In this photo illustration, social media posts by US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are displayed on a smartphone on June 05, 2025. (Getty Images via AFP)

The feud raised questions about how far Trump, an often unpredictable force who has intervened in past procurement efforts, would go to punish Musk, who until last week headed Trump’s initiative to downsize the federal government.
If the president prioritized political retaliation and canceled billions of dollars worth of SpaceX contracts with NASA and the Pentagon, it could slow US space progress.
NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens declined to comment on SpaceX, but said: “We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the president’s objectives in space are met.”
Musk and Trump’s tussle ruptured an unprecedented relationship between a US president and industry titan that had yielded some key favors for SpaceX: a proposed overhaul of NASA’s moon program into a Mars program, a planned effort to build a gigantic missile defense shield in space, and the naming of an Air Force leader who favored SpaceX in a contract award.
Taking Dragon out of service would likely disrupt the ISS program, which involves dozens of countries under a two-decade-old international agreement. But it was unclear how quickly such a decommissioning would occur. NASA uses Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft as a secondary ride for its astronauts to the ISS.

SpaceX’s rise
SpaceX rose to dominance long before Musk’s foray into Republican politics last year, building formidable market share in the rocket launch and satellite communications industries that could shield it somewhat from Musk’s split with Trump, analysts said.
“It fortunately wouldn’t be catastrophic, since SpaceX has developed itself into a global powerhouse that dominates most of the space industry, but there’s no question that it would result in significant lost revenue and missed contract opportunities,” said Justus Parmar, CEO of SpaceX investor Fortuna Investments.
Under Trump in recent months, the US space industry and NASA’s workforce of 18,000 have been whipsawed by looming layoffs and proposed budget cuts that would cancel dozens of science programs, while the US space agency remains without a confirmed administrator.
Trump’s nominee for NASA administrator, Musk ally and billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman, appeared to be an early casualty of Musk’s rift with the president when the White House abruptly removed him from consideration over the weekend, denying Musk his pick to lead the space agency.

 

Trump on Thursday explained dumping Isaacman by saying he was “totally Democrat.”
Musk’s quest to send humans to Mars has been a critical element of Trump’s space agenda. The effort has threatened to take resources away from NASA’s flagship effort to send humans back to the moon.
Trump’s budget plan sought to cancel Artemis moon missions beyond its third mission, effectively ending the over-budget Space Launch System rocket used for those missions.
But the Senate Commerce Committee version of Trump’s bill released late on Thursday would restore funding for missions four and five, providing at least $1 billion annually for SLS through 2029.
Since SpaceX’s rockets are a less expensive alternative to SLS, whether the Trump administration opposes the Senate’s changes in the coming weeks will give an indication of Musk’s remaining political power.
SpaceX, founded in 2002, has won $15 billion worth of contracts from NASA for the company’s Falcon 9 rockets and development of SpaceX’s Starship, a multipurpose rocket system tapped to land NASA astronauts on the moon this decade.
The company has also won billions of dollars to launch a majority of the Pentagon’s national security satellites into space while it builds a massive spy satellite constellation in orbit for a US intelligence agency.
In addition to not being in US interests, former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said canceling SpaceX’s contracts would probably not be legal.
But she also added, “A rogue CEO threatening to decommission spacecraft, putting astronauts lives at risk, is untenable.”


Messi’s PSG reunion, Real Madrid face Juventus in Club World Cup last 16

Messi’s PSG reunion, Real Madrid face Juventus in Club World Cup last 16
Updated 17 min 59 sec ago
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Messi’s PSG reunion, Real Madrid face Juventus in Club World Cup last 16

Messi’s PSG reunion, Real Madrid face Juventus in Club World Cup last 16
  • Botafogo are the reigning Brazilian and South American champions
  • Highly rated Flamengo coach Filipe Luis has his work cut out to keep Bayern at bay

PHILADELPHIA: From Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi facing former side Paris Saint-Germain to Real Madrid meeting Juventus and Chelsea taking on Benfica, AFP Sport looks ahead to the Club World Cup last 16.

Saturday, June 28, in Philadelphia (1600 GMT)
All four Brazilian representatives reached the last 16 and at least one will be in the quarter-finals, as Palmeiras and Botafogo face each other.

Botafogo are the reigning Brazilian and South American champions and beat European champions PSG on the way to qualifying from their group at Atletico Madrid’s expense.

Sao Paulo side Palmeiras — featuring Brazil prodigy and future Chelsea winger Estevao Willian — won their group and are above Botafogo in the Brazilian league. However, Botafogo are unbeaten in their last five meetings with Palmeiras, including the two legs of a Copa Libertadores last-16 tie last year.

Saturday, June 28, in Charlotte (2000 GMT)
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea finished second in their group but avoided a strong Bayern Munich side by doing so, pitting them against Benfica. The Portuguese powerhouses, who boast veteran playmaker Angel Di Maria, edged the German giants in their final group game.

Benfica will believe they can upset their inconsistent Premier League opposition and former Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez. New Chelsea striker Liam Delap is looking to continue adding to his tally after getting off the mark in the group stage.

Sunday, June 29, in Atlanta (1600 GMT)
Messi’s Inter Miami were a surprise package in the group stage, beating Porto on their way to progressing to the last 16, but a late collapse against Palmeiras meant they finished second and must face the Argentine playmaker’s former side PSG.

This season PSG ended a long wait to win the Champions League for the first time and Luis Enrique’s side are expected to vanquish their MLS opponents, but Botafogo beat them in the group stage to prove they are not untouchable.

Sunday, June 29, in Miami (2000 GMT)
Brazilian side Flamengo stunned Chelsea in the group phase to claim top spot but must overcome the might of Vincent Kompany’s Bayern if they are to progress.

With Harry Kane, Michael Olize and a Thomas Mueller looking to end his time at Bayern with a new trophy, the possession-hungry Bundesliga giants have as much firepower as anyone left in the tournament.

Highly rated Flamengo coach Filipe Luis has his work cut out to keep Bayern at bay.

Monday, June 30, in Charlotte (1900 GMT)
Recent runners-up in the Champions League, Inter ground out wins over Urawa Red Diamonds and River Plate to finish top of their group and will now hope to avoid becoming the latest European team to stumble against Brazilian opposition.

Fluminense, of Rio, held Borussia Dortmund en route to qualifying for this stage and will be full of motivation to claim a major scalp against Cristian Chivu’s side.

Monday, June 30, in Orlando (0100 Tuesday, July 1)
City come into the knockout phase in ominous form after being the only team at the tournament to win all three group games.

They have scored 11 times in their last two matches, with a 5-2 destruction of Juventus coming after they put six past Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates.

A game against Al Hilal, the 2021 Asian champions, will give City no reason to be afraid, even if the Saudi club boast numerous former stars of leading European leagues, including Joao Cancelo.

Tuesday, July 1, in Miami (1900)
This is a clash between two traditional European titans who have met 21 times before. There have been two Champions League finals between the clubs, both won by Real.

A 5-2 defeat for Juventus against Manchester City suggests they may find the going tough against Madrid.

Real are adapting to life under a new coach in Xabi Alonso, who experimented with a three-man defense against Salzburg. He will hope to have Kylian Mbappe back after the Frenchman missed the group stage with illness.

Tuesday, July 1, in Atlanta (0100 Wednesday, July 2)
Dortmund coach Niko Kovac has not held back on expressing his feelings about having to play in extreme heat at the tournament so he will be happy the game against Mexican side Monterrey is at the covered and air-conditioned Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Despite their complaints Dortmund have grown into the tournament. They face former Real Madrid star Sergio Ramos and a Monterrey team that has impressed, notably a creditable draw against Inter Milan.


Max Verstappen heads into Red Bull’s home race with upgrades and growing uncertainty

Max Verstappen heads into Red Bull’s home race with upgrades and growing uncertainty
Updated 24 min 43 sec ago
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Max Verstappen heads into Red Bull’s home race with upgrades and growing uncertainty

Max Verstappen heads into Red Bull’s home race with upgrades and growing uncertainty
  • The defending Formula 1 champion has an upgraded car for his team’s home race in Austria
  • Verstappen remains at risk of a one-race ban for too many penalty points

VIENNA: Max Verstappen at the Red Bull Ring is usually a recipe for success.

The defending Formula 1 champion has an upgraded car for his team’s home race in Austria — where he’s won five times — on the back of an encouraging second place in Canada, where his two McLaren rivals collided.

Zoom out, though, and the situation is much more uncertain.

Verstappen remains at risk of a one-race ban for too many penalty points, Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda is usually too far adrift to help him, and Verstappen’s own future is far from clear.

“I don’t think we need to talk about that,” Verstappen said Thursday when asked to confirm whether he’ll stay with the team for 2026. “It’s not really in my mind. It’s just driving and trying to push the performance, you know. And then we focus on next year.”

Fast in Friday practice
Red Bull’s upgrades seemed to work well in Verstappen’s first outing in Friday practice. He was second-fastest, 0.065 of a second off George Russell for Mercedes.

Standings leader Oscar Piastri was third-fastest for McLaren, .155 off the pace, but the star of the session was young driver Alex Dunne, who took over Lando Norris’ McLaren for the session and placed fourth.

Lewis Hamilton was ninth-fastest for Ferrari and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda only 17th.

What are Verstappen’s options?
Verstappen has a long-term contract through 2028, so in theory his Red Bull seat should be one of the safest on the grid. However, the deal has performance-related clauses which could reportedly allow a move.

In that case, the most obvious option could be Mercedes, which has yet to confirm either driver for 2026. That would mean Verstappen teaming up with an old foe in Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who’d also have to choose to drop either Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

Dramatic changes to how F1 cars look and perform are coming in 2026, and Red Bull has to adapt more than most.

For the first time in nearly two decades, it heads into a new era of F1 rules without design guru Adrian Newey, who left last year and is now at Aston Martin.

The other leading teams are sticking with their current engine arrangements, but not Red Bull. The team has an in-house engine developer, Red Bull Powertrains, but it’s switching partners for 2026 from Honda to newcomer Ford.

The second seat
No team in F1 depends as much on one driver as Red Bull does on Verstappen. He’s scored 155 of the team’s 162 points this season.

His teammates — first Liam Lawson, then Tsunoda — have struggled all season. That’s helped to restore the reputation of Sergio Perez, who was dropped by Red Bull after scoring barely one-third of Verstappen’s points last season.

“I know, deep down, they really regret it,” Perez said on a podcast this week. “And I know that from a very reliable source. It’s tough. I have very good friends there, and people might think I take pleasure in what happened, but no.”

Red Bull’s car seems to favor Verstappen’s driving style over anyone else’s, but the Dutch driver says he can’t diagnose the issue because he’s been with the team since 2016 and has nothing else to compare it with.

“The thing is that I don’t know any better, right?” he said Thursday. “I mean, I’ve basically started with Red bull, so I only know one car and that’s how I drive. I adapt to it. Is it the best? Is it the fastest? Is it not? I don’t know.”


Brentford appoint set-piece coach Andrews as manager to replace Frank

Brentford appoint set-piece coach Andrews as manager to replace Frank
Updated 29 min 53 sec ago
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Brentford appoint set-piece coach Andrews as manager to replace Frank

Brentford appoint set-piece coach Andrews as manager to replace Frank
  • Andrews began his coaching career as assistant manager at MK Dons
  • “He is someone we have known for a while,” Brentford Director of Football Phil Giles said

LONDON: Brentford have named former Ireland international Keith Andrews as manager on a three-year contract to replace Thomas Frank, Sky Sports reported on Friday, continuing the West London club’s trend of promoting from within.

Frank, who left to take over at Tottenham Hotspur, stepped up from the assistant role at Brentford to take charge in 2018, and now Andrews has been handed his first managerial role having served as the club’s set-piece coach for one season.

Andrews, who made 35 appearances for Ireland, began his coaching career as assistant manager at MK Dons where he finished playing in 2015 before joining the Ireland Under-21 set-up as assistant coach to Stephen Kenny.

Kenny became manager of Ireland’s senior side in 2020, taking Andrews with him, where they both remained until Kenny’s contract ended three years later, but Andrews found himself newly employed in a matter of weeks.

Andrews joined Sheffield United’s coaching staff when Chris Wilder took over in December 2023, with the Irishman leaving at the end of the season to take up his role at Brentford.

“He is someone we have known for a while and always had in mind for a role at some point in the future,” Brentford Director of Football Phil Giles said at the time of the appointment.

While Frank took assistant first-team coach Justin Cochrane, head of athletic performance Chris Haslam and first-team analyst Joe Newton with him to Spurs, Andrews remained at Brentford, a clue perhaps to his future at the club.

Frank, who took Brentford into the top flight for the first time in 74 years and made them a competitive force in the Premier League, will be a hard act to follow for the inexperienced Andrews, but his predecessor also went into the job relatively unknown.


German lawmakers vote to suspend family reunions for many migrants

German lawmakers vote to suspend family reunions for many migrants
Updated 40 min ago
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German lawmakers vote to suspend family reunions for many migrants

German lawmakers vote to suspend family reunions for many migrants
  • The bill approved Friday is the first legislation on migration since Merz took office
  • It will suspend rules dating to 2018 that allowed up to 1,000 close relatives per month to join the migrants granted limited protection

BERLIN: German lawmakers voted Friday to suspend family reunions for many migrants, part of a drive by the new conservative-led government for a tougher approach to migration.

Parliament’s lower house voted 444-135 to suspend the possibility of family reunions for two years for migrants who have “subsidiary protection,” a status that falls short of asylum.

At the end of March, more than 388,000 people living in Germany had the status, which was granted to many people fleeing Syria’s civil war.

New Chancellor Friedrich Merz made tougher migration policy a central plank of his campaign for Germany’s election in February. Just after he took office in early May, the government stationed more police at the border and said some asylum-seekers trying to enter Europe’s biggest economy would be turned away.

The bill approved Friday is the first legislation on migration since Merz took office. It will suspend rules dating to 2018 that allowed up to 1,000 close relatives per month to join the migrants granted limited protection, with authorities making case-by-case decisions on humanitarian grounds rather than granting an automatic right for reunions.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told lawmakers that the change would result in 12,000 fewer people being able to come to Germany each year and “break a business model” for smugglers.

People often know they won’t get full recognition as refugees, “but they set off for Germany because it is known that, even without asylum recognition ... you can have your family follow,” Dobrindt said. “That is a significant pull effect and we are removing this pull effect today.”

Dobrindt said “our country’s capacity for integration simply has a limit.”

Liberal opposition lawmakers decried the government’s approach. Marcel Emmerich, of the Greens, described the legislation as “an attack on the core of every society, on a truly central value — the family.”

“Anyone who wants integration must bring families together,” he said.

The far-right, anti-migration Alternative for Germany described the move as a very small step in the right direction.

German governments have for years faced pressure to curb migration as shelters across the country filled up. The administration of Merz’s predecessor, Olaf Scholz, already had taken some measures including the introduction of checks on all Germany’s borders.

Asylum applications declined from 329,120 in 2023 to 229,751 last year and have continued to fall this year.


Swiatek cruises past second-seed Paolini to reach first ever grass final

Swiatek cruises past second-seed Paolini to reach first ever grass final
Updated 55 min ago
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Swiatek cruises past second-seed Paolini to reach first ever grass final

Swiatek cruises past second-seed Paolini to reach first ever grass final
  • “I just did my job and I knew what I wanted to play and I went for it,” Swiatek said
  • The Pole did not play any other grass tournaments this season

BAD HOMBURG, Germany: Five-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek crushed second seed Jasmine Paolini 6-1 6-3 on Friday to reach the Bad Homburg Open final and stay in the hunt for her first career title on grass.

With Wimbledon starting next week, the former world number one showed she was on the right track on the surface, outclassing the Italian, last year’s Wimbledon finalist.

“I am super happy and I was not expecting this. I just did my job and I knew what I wanted to play and I went for it,” Swiatek said in a post-match interview.

“I’m happy I kept the momentum going until the end of the match. Jasmine, you can’t let her get back in the game because she’s a fighter. I just wanted to go for it, and go for my shots.” Swiatek has a 5-0 lead in their head-to-head matches.

The Pole, who has won the French Open four times along with one US Open, did not play any other grass tournaments this season ahead of next week’s Wimbledon start, instead opting for a week of training in Mallorca before competing in Bad Homburg.

She was never troubled by the Italian in the first set as she raced through it in 29 minutes courtesy of three breaks.

The pair traded breaks at the start of the second set but Paolini continued to struggle to hold serve and contain the aggressive Pole who went 4-2 up.

Swiatek sealed victory with a forehand winner on her third match point to book a final spot where she will face either top seed Jessica Pegula or Czech Linda Noskova in Saturday’s final.