What happens in Washington decidedly does not stay in Washington, with practically every action taken by the richest and most powerful country in the world having a near-immediate global reaction—on tariffs,

In the heat of the moment, Elon Musk threatened to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and then he took it back. In doing so, however, the rocket billionaire dragged NASA into his messy breakup with Donald Trump, with the agency’s access to orbit now at stake.

The space agency has published its budget request to Congress which would see funding for science projects cut by nearly a half.