Why Space X could destroy the fragile Musk-Trump bromance

The race to Mars could make or break Elon Musk's special relationship with the President

- WILLIAM HOSIE

Last month, Donald Trump issued his first direct order to Elon Musk as president: go fetch the astronauts who flew to the International Space Station with Boeing's Starliner last June and return them to Earth. Nasa's Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, Trump claimed, had been abandoned by the Biden administration; their mission to test Starliner had been meant to last only eight days.

They will now return in March aboard the Dragon capsule developed by SpaceX. Musk founded the company in 2002: today, it is the premier provider of space technology in the world. Its goal defies the imagination: to establish a human colony on Mars.

Trump has long believed in the power of space exploration. In his inauguration speech, he spoke of the US pursuing its "manifest destiny into the stars". Nasa, with which SpaceX commands lucrative contracts, is set to experience a shake-up under new chief Jared Isaacman a pilot, astronaut and entrepreneur who's worked with Musk in the past.