Jeff Bezos could come out on top after Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s ongoing public feud.
Last Thursday (5 June), the political world was thrown into disarray when the Tesla billionaire and President Trump began trading blows across social media. Musk retaliated and made the explosive claim that the president appears in the Epstein files.
Although rumours of friction between the two have been circulating for some time, this latest clash appears to confirm an irreparable fallout, and has led to uncertainty around the future of US space agency NASA.
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Musk's SpaceX is known for its ambitious Starship program, but the US has become increasingly reliant on the company for NASA's operations. The space agency relies on Musk's Falcon 9 rockets to keep the International Space Station supplied, and SpaceX played a key role in bringing home stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams earlier this year.
Now, NASA and Pentagon officials are urging competitors of SpaceX like Jeff Bezos‘s Blue Origin, to accelerate their rocket and spacecraft development.
Last week, the White House withdrew Musk-ally, Jared Isaacman‘s nomination for NASA administrator.
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But, the breaking point came when Trump threatened to pull Musk's companies off all federal contracts, leading the world's richest man to threaten to cease flying its Dragon spacecraft, a critical component of transporting NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. Although Musk later retracted this threat, the damage was already done.
According to a report by The Washington Post, companies like Rocket Lab and Stoke Space are also being approached by government officials to assess how quickly they could step in.
While Bezos used to be on the receiving end of the president's criticism over his ownership of The Washington Post, Trump has recently praised Bezos for making significant changes to the newspaper, saying: "He's trying to do a real job."
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While, the Amazon founder's relationship with the president could impact his tech giant, it continues to be positive. Bezo's visit to Mar-A-Lago ended with him contributing $1 million to Trump's inauguration, and reportedly signing a $40 million documentary deal with First Lady Melania Trump. And, just recently, Blue Origin unveiled a new vehicle for lunar and Martian missions, which cements its position as a key player in the space exploration industry.
Meanwhile, his Project Kuiper satellite network is also set to compete directly with Musk's Starlink, and with SpaceX's government contracts now uncertain, Bezos might finally get his chance to challenge Musk's dominance in the satellite internet market.