How the U.S. became highly reliant on Elon Musk for access to space
SpaceX is best known for its high-profile crewed missions to the International Space Station and its ambitious Starship program. But the U.S. has become increasingly reliant on the company for critical and sometimes secret space operations. This relationship is now jeopardized by the escalating feud between SpaceX founder Elon Musk and President Trump.
The ongoing dispute highlights the deep interdependence between the U.S. government and SpaceX. Trump has threatened to cut SpaceX's federal contracts. Musk fired back by saying that his company would decommission its Dragon capsule, which is currently America's only means of transportation to the space station. He later deleted the original tweet.
During the Obama administration, Lori Garver served as deputy administrator of NASA and she actively championed partnerships between the space agency and SpaceX. At that time, Musk's rocket company was struggling to prove it could reliably send satellites into orbit. Garver calls the war of words between Trump and Musk "really disconcerting."
"When Elon shot back bringing SpaceX into it, I think that was strategically a mistake," she says. "It just highlights for government leaders the risk in having a prime large aerospace and defense contractor run by one individual."
During Garver's tenure at NASA, SpaceX was viewed as an underdog in the satellite launch business, trying to stand out against United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture formed to provide launch services to the government and comprising aerospace heavyweights Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
But SpaceX's powerful Falcon rockets changed that dynamic, according to Laura Forczyk, owner of the space consulting firm Astralytical. The big shift occurred when SpaceX put considerable money and effort into perfecting an innovative system to soft-land the rocket's booster stage for refurbishment and reuse. This innovation increased launch frequency and reduced costs, which made SpaceX more attractive to the Pentagon.
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/07/nx-s1-5425266/spacex-musk-trump-starlink-starship
Quoting the article farther down, "this situation validates NASA's multiple-contract strategy."