From left: The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launches on the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket; the Blue Origin rocket manufacturing facility; RocketLab’s Rutherford, a battery-powered rocket engine printed on 3D parts. (From left: Photos by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post; Phil Walter/Getty Images)

By Christian Davenport

Federal officials at NASA and the Pentagon moved swiftly this week to urge competitors to Elon Musk’s SpaceX to more quickly develop alternative rockets and spacecraft after President Donald Trump threatened to cancel Space X’s contracts and Musk’s defiant response.

Government officials were especially stunned after Musk responded to Trump with a salvo of his own: SpaceX would stop flying its Dragon spacecraft, a move that would leave the space agency w

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