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Amid Trump, Musk blowup, canceling SpaceX contracts could cripple DoD launch program – Breaking Defense
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, accompanied by U.S. President Donald Trump (R), and his son X Musk, speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — If President Donald Trump were to follow through on his threat today to cancel all government contracts with billionaire Elon Musk, it would likely derail Pentagon and Intelligence Community space operations, and specifically in the near term cripple the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, due to the US government’s reliance on SpaceX rockets.
Trump and Musk, formerly a close advisor, engaged in a bitter and escalating war of words this afternoon on social media following Musk’s sharp criticism on X of Trump’s giant budget reconciliation package self-dubbed the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” Trump posted on his own social media site in response to Musk’s criticisms and Musk’s suggestion he might consider backing the creation of a third political party.
Musk fired back, “Go ahead and make my day!” in a post on X, and followed up with another saying, “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.”
It’s unclear, on both sides, how much of the social media spat is bluster destined to blow over — not to mention the myriad contractual and legal complexities that would be involved in actually disentangling the US government from business with Musk in a number of areas.
But any decommissioning of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft would immediately be felt by NASA, which uses the craft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Beyond that, any potential freezing of contracts for SpaceX equipment and operations also would have far-reaching impact on the DoD and IC. NSSL is the primary acquisition program for space launches by the Space Force and IC, namely the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) that builds the nation’s spy satellites. And at the moment, SpaceX’s Falcon series are the Space Force’s go-to rockets for putting the most critical payloads into orbit.
Killing SpaceX’s DoD contracts wouldn’t quite ground the Space Force, but it likely would significantly slow things down. Back in 2020, the Space Force contracted SpaceX and the Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA) as the only two providers able to compete for NSSL missions under the Phase 2 program, covering launches from fiscal year 2022 to 2027.
For the earlier missions in that time frame, ULA was offering its Delta IV and Atlas 5 for launches of medium- and heavy-lift missions, but for later years the company intended to use its new Vulcan rocket — which unlike the Delta and Atlas is using US-made engines rather than Russian ones banned by Congress as of the end of 2022.
However, ULA has had years of setbacks with Vulcan’s development. The rocket was technically certified by the Space Force for NSSL launches only in March. However, a senior Space Force officer on May 14 told the House Armed Services Committee that the company still has “open work” to finish before actually taking on NSSL missions.
“Risk reduction plans have been agreed to and signed between the Space Force and ULA to reduce known risks to flyable ‘Low-Medium’ prior to the first NSSL Vulcan launch,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration.
The first Vulcan mission is USSF-106, slated to go up in July.
The Space Force recently switched two earlier planned missions to launch new GPS satellites from Vulcan to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to help remediate a backlog caused by the delay in getting Vulcan certified. The latest of the two, the launch of GPS III Space Vehicle-08, successfully lifted off on May 30 with a record turn-around time of only three months.
The Space Force further has issued contracts for critical launches under the follow-on NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 program, for launches between fiscal 2027 and 2032, to ULA, SpaceX and newcomer Blue Origin with its New Glenn rocket.
Under the new awards, SpaceX is “anticipated” to undertake 28 NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 missions, about 60 percent of the launches contracted from FY25-FY29, for a sum of around $5.9 billion, and ULA 19 missions, about 40 percent, Space Systems Command (SSC) announced April 4. Blue Origin, “is projected to be awarded seven Phase 3 Lane 2 missions starting in Order Year 2,” of FY26, SSC added.
The future NSSL program also envisions that a number of small- and medium-launch providers will compete for less critical missions going to lower orbits, under the Lane 1 acquisition track. Lane 1 launch providers face fewer requirements to be certified by the Space Force than those qualified to launch under NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2. So far, the Space Force has given SpaceX, ULA , Blue Origin, Rocket Lab and Stoke Space the thumbs up to participate.
But the bottom line is that SpaceX has been, and appeared up to now to be for the near future, the dominant US space launch provider. The company was responsible for 98 of the total 109 US military, civil and commercial launches in 2023 and 138 out of 145 US launches in 2024, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist with the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who maintains the world’s largest open-source database on space launches.
That’s before evening getting into the potentially thornier issue of military use of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite communications and the reported use of Starshield buses for the NRO’s new constellation of hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit.
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Bill Clinton to testify before House committee investigating Epstein links
Former president Bill Clinton is scheduled to give deposition Friday to a congressional committee investigating his links to Jeffrey Epstein, one day after Hillary Clinton testified before the committee and called the proceedings “partisan political theatre” and “an insult to the American people”.
During remarks before the House oversight committee, Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, insisted on Thursday that she had never met Epstein.
The former Democratic president, however, flew on Epstein’s private jet several times in the early 2000s but said he never visited his island.
Clinton, who engaged in an extramarital affair while president and has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women, also appears in a photo from the recently released files, in a hot tub with Epstein and a woman whose identity is redacted.
Clinton has denied the sexual misconduct claims and was not charged with any crimes. He also has not been accused of any wrongdoing connected to Epstein.
Epstein visited the White House at least 17 times during the early years of Clinton’s presidency, according to White House visitor records cited in news reports. Clinton said he cut ties with him around 2005, before the disgraced financier, who died from suicide in 2019, pleaded guilty to solicitation of a minor in Florida.
The House committee subpoenaed the Clintons in August. They initially refused to testify but agreed after Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt.
The Clintons asked for their depositions to be held publicly, with the former president stating that to do so behind closed doors would amount to a “kangaroo court”.
“Let’s stop the games + do this the right way: in a public hearing,” Clinton said on X earlier this month.
The committee’s chair, James Comer, did not grant their request, and the proceedings will be conducted behind closed doors with video to be released later.
On Thursday, Hillary Clinton’s proceedings were briefly halted after representative Lauren Boebert leaked an image of Clinton testifying.
During the full day deposition, Clinton said she had no information about Epstein and did not recall ever meeting him.
Before the deposition, Comer said it would be a long interview and that one with Bill Clinton would be “even longer”.
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Read Judge Schiltz’s Order
CASE 0:26-cv-00107-PJS-DLM
Doc. 12-1 Filed 02/26/26
Page 5 of 17
and to file a status update by 11:00 am on January 20. ECF No. 5. Respondents never provided a bond hearing and did not release Petitioner until January 21, ECF Nos. 10, 12, after failing to file an update, ECF No. 9. Further, Respondents released Petitioner subject to conditions despite the Court’s release order not providing for conditions. ECF Nos. 5, 12–13.
Abdi W. v. Trump, et al., Case No. 26-CV-00208 (KMM/SGE)
On January 21, 2026, the Court ordered Respondents, within 3 days, to either (a) complete Petitioner’s inspection and examination and file a notice confirming completion, or (b) release Petitioner immediately in Minnesota and confirm the date, time, and location of release. ECF No. 7. No notice was ever filed. The Court emailed counsel on January 27, 2026, at 10:39 am. No response was provided.
Adriana M.Y.M. v. David Easterwood, et al., Case No. 26-CV-213 (JWB/JFD)
On January 24, 2026, the Court ordered immediate release in Minnesota and ordered Respondents to confirm the time, date, and location of release, or anticipated release, within 48 hours. ECF No. 12. Respondent was not released until January 30, and Respondents never disclosed the time of release, instead describing it as “early this morning.” ECF No. 16.
Estefany J.S. v. Bondi, Case No. 26-CV-216 (JWB/SGE)
On January 13, 2026, at 10:59 am, the Court ordered Respondents to file a letter by 4:00 pm confirming Petitioner’s current location. ECF No. 8. After receiving no response, the Court ordered Respondents, at 5:11 pm, to immediately confirm Petitioner’s location and, by noon on January 14, file a memorandum explaining their failure to comply with the initial order. ECF No. 9. Respondents did not file the memorandum, requiring the Court to issue another order. ECF No. 12. On January 15, the Court ordered immediate release in Minnesota and required Respondents to confirm the time, date, and location of release within 48 hours. ECF No. 18. On January 20, having received no confirmation, the Court ordered Respondents to comply immediately. ECF No. 21. Respondents informed the Court that Petitioner was released in Minnesota on January 17, but did not specify the time. ECF No. 22.
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Chicagoans pay respects to Jesse Jackson as cross-country memorial services begin
James Hickman holds a photo montage of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson before a public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.
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CHICAGO — A line of mourners streamed through a Chicago auditorium Thursday to pay final respects to the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. as cross-country memorial services began in the city the late civil rights leader called home.
The protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate will lie in repose for two days at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition before events in Washington, D.C., and South Carolina, where he was born.
Family members wiped away tears as the casket was brought into the stately brick building. Flowers lined the sidewalks where people waiting to enter watched a large screen playing video excerpts of Jackson’s notable speeches. Some raised their fists in solidarity.
The casket with the Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives before a public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.
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Inside, Jackson’s children, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Rev. Al Sharpton were among those who stood by the open casket to shake hands and hug those coming to view the body of Jackson, dressed in a suit and blue shirt and tie.
“The challenge for us is that we’ve got to make sure that all he lived for was not in vain,” Sharpton told reporters. “Dr. King’s dream and Jesse Jackson’s mission now falls on our shoulders. We’ve got to stand up and keep it going.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks as Jesse Jackson Jr. listens after the public visitation for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.
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Jackson died last week at age 84 after battling a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak in his later years.
Remembrances have already poured in from around the globe, and several U.S. states, including Minnesota, Iowa and North Carolina, are flying flags at half-staff in his honor.
But perhaps nowhere has his death been felt as strongly as in the nation’s third-largest city, where Jackson lived for decades and raised his six children, including a son who is a congressman.
Bouquets have been left outside the family’s Tudor-style home on the city’s South Side for days. Public schools have offered condolences, and city trains have used digital screens to display Jackson’s portrait and his well-known mantra, “I am Somebody!”
People wait to enter the security checkpoint for the public visitation for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.
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His causes, both in the United States and abroad, were countless: Advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues including voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.


“We honor him, and his hard-earned legacy as a freedom fighter, philosopher, and faithful shepherd of his family and community here in Chicago,” the mayor said in a statement.
Next week, Jackson will lie in honor at the South Carolina Statehouse, followed by public services. According to Rainbow PUSH’s agenda, Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to deliver remarks; however, the governor’s office said Thursday that his participation wasn’t yet confirmed. Jackson spent his childhood and started his activism in South Carolina.
Details on services in Washington have not yet been made public. However, he will not lie in honor at the United States Capitol rotunda after a request for the commemoration was denied by the House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.
The two weeks of events will wrap up next week with a large celebration of life gathering at a Chicago megachurch and finally, homegoing services at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Family members said the services will be open to all.
“Our family is overwhelmed and overjoyed by the amazing amount of support being offered by common, ordinary people who our father’s life has come into contact with,” his eldest son, Jesse Jackson Jr., said before the services began. “This is a unique opportunity to lay down some of the political rhetoric and to lay down some of the division that deeply divides our country and to reflect upon a man who brought people together.”
The family of the Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives as Yusep Jackson wipes his eyes before public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.
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The services included prayers from some of the city’s most well-known religious leaders, including Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich. Mourners of all ages — from toddlers in strollers to elderly people in wheelchairs — came to pay respects.
Video clips of his appearances at news conferences, the campaign trail and even “Sesame Street” also played inside the auditorium.
Claudette Redic, a retiree who lives in Chicago, said her family has respected Jackson, from backing his presidential ambitions to her son getting a scholarship from a program Jackson championed.
“We have generations of support,” she said. “I’m hoping we continue.”
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