Tech billionaire Elon Musk called a former commander of the International Space Station (ISS) an “idiot” on Thursday after he pushed back on Musk’s claim that the Biden administration “left” two astronauts in space “for political reasons.”
“What a lie,” Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen said on X. “And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.”
Mogensen was responding to a clip of a recent Fox News interview in which Musk said that, at President Trump’s direction, “we are accelerating the return of the astronauts” who “were left up there for political reasons, which is not good.”
Musk doubled down on this position in response to Mogensen’s assertion that Musk was lying.
“SpaceX could have brought them back several months ago. I OFFERED THIS DIRECTLY to the Biden administration and they refused. Return WAS pushed back for political reasons. Idiot,” Musk responded, also calling him another derogatory slur.
Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were part of the first crewed flight of the Boeing Starliner in early June, a mission that was supposed to last only 8-10 days. They managed to successfully dock with the space station but concerns about the Starliner prevented them from making the return trip as planned. NASA conducted tests on the capsule but ultimately decided to send the Starliner back to Earth uncrewed in September.
NASA decided Williams and Wilmore would join SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, which was adjusted to launch with only two astronauts, rather than with the typical four, to leave space for Williams and Wilmore when they are ready to return. NASA’s crew rotations on the space station usually last for a few months, and one crew only departs when the other arrives.
The Crew-9 mission was originally scheduled to depart in February, once the Crew-10 mission arrived at the ISS, flying on SpaceX’s new Dragon spacecraft. However, delays in the spacecraft’s construction forced NASA in December to delay Crew-10’s departure date, thereby also delaying Crew-9’s return date.
NASA recently announced that it decided not to wait for the new Dragon spacecraft but would send Crew-10 on a Dragon spacecraft that has been flown before, moving the departure date up by a couple of weeks.
Mogensen responded to Musk’s dig, offering praise for Musk’s accomplishments while pressing forward with the facts.
“Elon, I have long admired you and what you have accomplished, especially at SpaceX and Tesla,” Mogensen wrote.
“You know as well as I do, that Butch and Suni are returning with Crew-9, as has been the plan since last September. Even now, you are not sending up a rescue ship to bring them home. They are returning on the Dragon capsule that has been on ISS since last September.”
In a separate post later on Thursday, Musk said, “It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the @Space_Station. It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let’s go to Mars.”
An X user noted SpaceX is contracted to build the US Deorbit Vehicle to bring the space station down in 2030 and asked if he was suggesting the ISS be deorbited before then.
“The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible,” Musk replied to the X user. “I recommend 2 years from now.”
