(NewsNation) — The United States has grown “completely reliant” on SpaceX, said Col. Terry Virts, a former NASA astronaut and International Space Station commander.
“It’s not only NASA, also the Defense Department and the intelligence community are very dependent on SpaceX,” Virts told NewsNation.
President Donald Trump has threatened to cut SpaceX contracts amid a public feud with onetime adviser Elon Musk, who briefly countered with a threat to decommission his Dragon space capsule.
Musk’s threat has since been walked back, but Virts said it indicates a greater problem: national needs left to Musk’s whims.
“I think it’s very concerning, especially when the CEO is so unstable and has been so, you know, unpredictable and some might say, dangerous in recent years,” Virts said.
Trump’s proposed NASA budget would cut $6 billion — the largest single-year cut in the agency’s history, according to the nonprofit Planetary Society.
Under the budget, human space programs would get a boost, with more than $7 billion allocated for lunar missions and $1 billion allocated for new investments in efforts to get people to Mars.
The budget includes significant cuts to staffing, maintenance, environmental compliance, and the space and Earth science programs.
“It has been a chaotic and stressful time. Unfortunately, it affects the nation’s space exploration and science community, not only at NASA, but also in the medical research and other fields,” Virts said.
Musk’s company is set to launch Falcon 9 for Axiom Space’s Axiom Mission 4 on Tuesday, seemingly signaling a secure partnership between SpaceX and NASA.
But Virts warned of overarching damage to the American science community that has been building since Inauguration Day.
“You can’t just turn on a space program, and in a matter of months. You can certainly turn it off, and that’s what’s happened with this administration’s chaos,” Virts said. “But getting it back is going to be a problem.”