SpaceX's rockets ferry US astronauts to the International Space Station. Its Starlink satellite constellation blankets the globe with broadband, and the company is embedded in some of the Pentagon's most sensitive projects, including tracking hypersonic missiles.  

So when President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to cancel Elon Musk's federal contracts, space watchers snapped to attention.

Musk, the world's richest person, shot back that he would mothball Dragon -- the capsule NASA relies on for crew flights -- before retracting the threat a few hours later.

For now, experts say mutual dependence should keep a full-blown rupture at bay, but the episode exposes just how disruptive any break could be.

Founded in 2002, SpaceX leapfrogged legacy contractors to become the world's domin

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