NASA, Pentagon eye SpaceX alternatives amid rising concerns

The US Department of Defense and NASA have initiated efforts to reduce their reliance on Elon Musk’s SpaceX, following a high-profile public dispute between the billionaire entrepreneur and President Donald Trump.

Federal officials have begun encouraging competing aerospace firms to speed up the development of alternative launch vehicles and crewed spacecraft, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

The push comes after Musk threatened to suspend flights of the Dragon spacecraft—a vehicle critical to NASA’s ability to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Though Musk later reversed his position, stating that Dragon missions would continue, the threat sparked alarm among government agencies tasked with national security and space exploration. 

A NASA representative added that while the initial dispute had seemed almost theatrical, Musk’s threat to pull Dragon from operations got genuinely frightening.   Since 2020, SpaceX has been transporting crews to the ISS under a NASA contract using its Crew Dragon spacecraft.   These missions are part of a cross-launch programme between NASA and Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos. The Pentagon also actively uses SpaceX rockets to launch classified satellites into orbit.  

The War Zone reported that the conflict between Musk and the White House may jeopardize the company’s multibillion-dollar government contracts. In 2024, SpaceX carried out 134 orbital launches and was responsible for deploying 84 per cent of all satellites launched globally.     As of 2025, the company holds contracts worth nearly $6 billion. If US funding for SpaceX were to be cut, the country could once again find itself dependent on Roscosmos for transporting astronauts to the ISS and launching reconnaissance satellites—at a significantly higher cost.

By Naila Huseynova