SpaceX is the jewel in Musk's crown. That could prove a problem for Trump

Trump ordered SpaceX to fetch astronauts who docked at the International Space Station last year and return them to Earth .

The astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore , had been abandoned by the Biden Administration after they docked there last June .

SpaceX is sending one of its missions to the ISS to relieve the team on Crew-9 .

The billionaire founded SpaceX in 2002 when he was just 31 , using $ 100 m of the money he made from the sale of PayPal .

On 16 January , during its seventh test flight, the upper stage of a Starship launch system broke apart after liftoff from South Texas .

Starship is the largest and heaviest vehicle ever built; Musk hopes to one day fly a thousand passengers from London to New York in half an hour by sending them into orbit.

NASA 's Artemis landings are scheduled for 2027 while SpaceX plans to send uncrewed missions to Mars by 2026 .

The question is whether NASA can keep up with the Muskian upstart.

Trump sees SpaceX as key to America winning the space race while Musk sees this victory as a necessary step for humanity.