Musk and European astronaut Andreas Mogensen exchanged barbs online after remarks Musk made during a pre-taped, joint interview with President Donald Trump that aired Tuesday on Fox News. The pair was asked about NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been aboard the space station for the past eight months after their Boeing spacecraft encountered issues on its first crewed test flight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were left up there for political reasons,\u201d Musk said, suggesting that the Biden administration left them there longer than necessary.<\/p>\n
Mogensen, who in 2015 became the first Danish citizen to fly in space, refuted Musk\u2019s claim, posting<\/a>: \u201cWhat a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.\u201d<\/p>\n But Musk wouldn\u2019t let that stand.<\/p>\n SpaceX could have brought them back several months ago,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cI OFFERED THIS DIRECTLY to the Biden administration and they refused. Return WAS pushed back for political reasons. Idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n Mogensen, who flew to and from the space station on a SpaceX rocket and capsule, responded 13 minutes later, stating he has \u201clong admired\u201d Musk\u2019s accomplishments.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know as well as I do, that Butch and Suni are returning with Crew-9, as has been the plan since last September,\u201d\u00a0he said on X<\/a>, referring to NASA\u2019s plan to fly Wilmore and Williams back to Earth with two current space station crew members. \u201cEven 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.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA said it is \u201cfocused on safely executing our crew rotation missions and work aboard the International Space Station for the benefit of humanity and future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n Retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who commanded the space station in 2013, then posted: \u201cSuni and Butch have never been \u2018stranded\u2019 in space. They\u2019re prepared and committed to the mission, like all professional astronauts. Suni\u2019s Space Station commander, they\u2019re doing spacewalks, working hard on behalf of NASA and all partners, having the time of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n But the statements refuting Musk don\u2019t add up to previous reports regarding the situation during the Biden regime.<\/p>\n Wilmore and Williams launched to the International Space Station aboard Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft in June, with plans to spend about a week there as part of the test flight, NBC News reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the capsule faced several issues, forcing the astronauts to stay at the space station longer than expected. NASA decided to return the Starliner to Earth in September without any crew on board.<\/p>\n