Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen has called out Elon Musk who claimed that NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were "abandoned" at the International Space Station (ISS) by former US President Joe Biden.
Mr Mogensen has quote-tweeted a clip from Donald Trump and Elon Musk's first joint interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity and said, “What a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.”
Andreas Mogensen's post didn't go unnoticed as Elon Musk was quick to drop a comment under it.
The SpaceX CEO said, “You are fully retarded. 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.”
Mr Mogensen, who was not ready to buy Elon Musk's claims, said, “Elon, I have long admired you and what you have accomplished, especially at 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.”
Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly then told Mr Musk that Mr Mogensen does not deserve "this kind of disrespect".
"I was the Commander of the ISS when Andy, flew his first space mission. He is one of the most competent, trustworthy, and honest people I've ever met. This rhetoric is beyond the pale but, sadly, not surprising," he said.
Mr Musk, however, said that Mr Mogensen is an "idiot" who publicly attacked him.
"Yes, he does. He is an idiot who publicly attacked me, despite having no idea what ACTUALLY happened. Btw, your brother claims to be independent, but is just a Dem donor shill," he added.
The remarks on Sunita Williams were made when Sean Hannity asked Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk to share their thoughts on the "two astronauts” stuck in space.
Elon Musk said, "I think they were abandoned. At the President's request, we - or instruction, we are accelerating the return of the astronauts, which was postponed, kind of, to a ridiculous degree."
To this, Donald Trump added, “They got left in space.” Mr Musk, who backed the President's claim, said, "Yes, they were left up there for political reasons, which is not good."
On how Space X is planning to bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, Mr Musk said, "Well, we don't want to be complacent, but we have brought astronauts back from the space station many times before, and always with success.”
Elon Musk also said that Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will be back in “about four weeks.”
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams launched to the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in June 2024. The flight, which was intended to last only 10 days, experienced a rocky journey. While NASA and Boeing worked for weeks to better understand the problems in the spacecraft, it was ultimately decided that it was too risky to return the Starliner with the crew.
