SpaceX founder Elon Musk pulled no punches in a testy exchange with European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen Thursday.
The pair are sparring over the circumstances of NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s extended stay on the orbiting laboratory. While the duo were only supposed to be on the International Space Station for a week starting last June, their trip was extended following issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
Although Williams and Wilmore have repeatedly said they do not feel “stranded, abandoned, or stuck,” Musk has taken the opportunity to lob shots at the Biden administration. In an interview alongside President Donald Trump this week, he claimed to Fox News’ Sean Hannity that they had been “left up there for political reasons.”
“They were left in space,” Trump added with a little laugh. “Biden.”
A clip of the exchange posted on Musk’s social media platform X drew the attention of Mogensen, who was the commander of the space station for Expedition 70 in 2023.
“What a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media,” the astronaut stated.
His post drew ire from the Tesla co-founder, who decided the best response was to call Mogensen names.
“You are fully r*******,” Musk wrote. “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.”
In a separate post responding to the clip, Musk again stated that SpaceX could have brought the astronauts back last year, “but Biden pushed the return past the inauguration date.”
However, Mogensen did not take the billionaire’s anger-fueled reply lying down.
First, he said he had long admired what Musk had accomplished, especially and SpaceX and Tesla.
“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,” Mogensen continued.
Any allegations of political motivations are currently unproven. The effort to return Williams and Wilmore back to Earth has taken months.
In August, NASA had said they would return in February on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, before a delay was announced at the end of the year. The change, the agency said, gave both SpaceX and NASA teams the time to complete processing on a new Dragon capsule that was set to arrive to the company’s processing facility in early January.
Recently, NASA said it may bring Williams and Wilmore back a little sooner than anticipated — but on a previously flown Dragon. That change will give SpaceX the time to complete the new spacecraft’s interior build and perform final integration activities.
“After Crew-10 arrives to the space station, Crew-9 will help the newly arrived crew familiarize with ongoing science and station maintenance work, which supports a safer transition of operations aboard the orbital complex,” NASA explained.
“Following the handover, NASA and SpaceX will prepare to return to Earth NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard Crew-9 pending weather conditions at the splashdown sites off the coast of Florida,” it said.
NASA is targeting March 12 for the Crew-10 launch.
