Trump Threat to Pull Musk Contracts Imperils Space Ambitions (1)

Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s dramatic spat on Thursday has gone beyond online vitriol to real-life repercussions: threatening to cut off a vital part of the US space program.

Musk said he will decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which ferries cargo and people to the International Space Station for the US. SpaceX, the world’s most prolific rocket launcher, also holds billions of dollars in contracts to loft critical national security satellites for the Pentagon and develop a spacecraft to put American astronauts on the moon in as little as two years.

The decision was prompted by Trump’s threat ...