Musk referred to Mogensen as an “idiot” and used a light pejorative term that escalated quickly.
“SpaceX could have brought them back a few months ago.” The tweet was posted. “I presented this directly to the Biden administration, and they rejected it. The return was delayed for political reasons. Idiot.”
Mogensen, who shuttled between the space station on a SpaceX rocket and capsule, replied 13 minutes later, acknowledging Musk’s earlier praise for his work with SpaceX.
“Like me, you know that Butch and Suni are back with Crew-9, just like me, as planned since September last year.” He mentioned in another tweet about NASA’s plan to bring Willmore and Williams back to Earth alongside two current space station crews. “Even now, you haven’t sent a rescue ship to bring them back. They’ve returned to the Dragon Capsules they’ve been working on with the ISS since September last year.”
Mogensen was the commander of the Space Station from September 2023 to March 2024, continuing to be stationed at his recent orbital post.
Neither the White House nor NASA immediately responded to requests for comment.
Former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who led the space station in 2013, also reiterated his initial comment on X on February 14th.
“Suni and Butch have never been ‘stuck’ in space,” Hadfield stated. “They are well-prepared and dedicated to their missions, like all professional astronauts. Leading the Space Station Commander is Suni, and they are onboard spacecraft working diligently on behalf of NASA and all their partners. I commend their dedication.”
Spatt’s role as one of Trump’s top political advisers has raised new questions about his tendency to disseminate false and misleading information. Musk has also recently spread several misleading claims regarding fraud and spending within the US government.
Wilmore and Williams were launched on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June 2024 to the International Space Station, intending to spend about a week as part of their test flight.
However, the capsule encountered several issues and was forced to prolong its stay at the space station. Ultimately, NASA decided to return the Starliner to Earth in September.
Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Under the Biden administration, NASA has requested SpaceX to bring Willmore and Williams back to Earth. Their return, initially set for this month, was postponed to late March. NASA cited the need to “finalize” the new SpaceX spacecraft that will transport four new crews to the space station.
This flight, called Crew-10, is scheduled to carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, Russian astronaut Kiril Peskov, and Japanese astronaut Onishi to the space station.
Upon their arrival, Wilmore and Williams will depart the station in another Dragon capsule, alongside NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian astronaut Alexander Golbunov.
Typically, incoming crews overlap with outgoing ones during handover periods, allowing astronauts to exchange information about ongoing experiments, maintenance tasks, and other protocols.
Musk also reiterated on Thursday. He suggested that the space station should be deorbited, proposing a timeline of two years instead of NASA’s plan to deorbit the facility by 2030.
“It has served its purpose. There are limited further utilities,” he stated. “Let’s aim for Mars.”
Source: www.nbcnews.com
