It turns out being accused of doing a ‘Nazi salute’ wasn’t enough for Musk when it came to kicking off 2025, with the Tesla CEO having taken to Twitter to use a slur against a former NASA astronaut.
Elon Musk says he wants to ‘die on Mars’
Credit: Fox News
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A clip from a Fox News broadcast of US President Donald Trump and Musk was shared to Twitter showing the pair discussing the two astronauts – Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore – who were meant to be in space in June for eight to days but now won’t return until March.
Musk says: “At the president’s instruction, we are accelerating the return of the astronauts which was postponed kind of, to a ridiculous degree.
“[…] They were left up there for political reasons which is not good.”
And it didn’t take long for European Space Agency astronaut and commander of ISS for Exp 70, aerospace engineer Andreas Mogensen to respond, resharing the post, adding: “What a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.”
Musk’s reply?
“You are fully r******d. SpaceX could have brought them back several months ago. I OFFERED THIS DIRECTLY to the Biden administration and they refused,” he said.
“Return WAS pushed back for political reasons. Idiot.”
Andreas Mogensen hit out at Elon Musk (Twitter/@Astro_Andreas)
Former NASA astronaut and US Navy Captain Scott Kelly then weighed in, arguing Mogensen is ‘one of the most competent, trustworthy and honest people’ he’s ‘ever met’, noting he would know as was the commander of the International Space Station when Mogensen ‘flew his first space mission’.
“This rhetoric is beyond the pale but, sadly, not surprising. He does not deserve this kind of disrespect,” he added.
Alas, Musk continued: “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.”
Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly then tagged Musk and challenged him to ‘come talk to the three’ of them only when he ‘finally get[s] the nerve to climb into a rocket ship’.
*Mic drop* (Twitter/@CaptMarkKelly)
Mogensen later added: “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.”
UNILAD has contacted Elon Musk’s representatives for comment.
Elon Musk makes shocking claim about the reason why NASA astronauts are still stranded in space
A SpaceX rescue vehicle will be bringing Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth in the coming weeks
Elon Musk has made an outlandish claim about why two NASA astronauts ended up being stuck in space.
In June 2024, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore embarked on what was supposed to be an eight-day mission.
However, upon making it to the International Space Station, the duo were unable to return back to Earth as planned do it technical issues with their Boeing capsule.
While the capsule has since returned to Earth, it wasn’t safe for Williams and Wilmore to board it and they’ve since remained at the ISS for the last few months.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stuck on the ISS since June (NASA)
SpaceX is set to bring the two NASA astronauts home in the near future — over eight months later than planned.
NASA said in a recent update: “NASA and SpaceX are accelerating the target launch and return dates for the upcoming crew rotation missions to and from the International Space Station.
“The agency’s Crew-10 launch now is targeting Wednesday, March 12, pending mission readiness and completion of the agency’s certification of flight readiness process. The Crew-9 mission is planned for return to Earth following a several day handover period with the newly arrived Crew-10 expedition crew.”
In the wake of the mishap involving Williams and Wilmore’s drastically extended stay at the ISS, Elon Musk — SpaceX’s founder — has weighed in on why it happened.
Trump and Musk discuss stranded NASA astronauts
Credits: Fox News
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Speaking to Fox News, Musk alleged that the ordeal comes down to ‘political reasons’.
“They were left up there for political reasons, which is not good,” he said in a joint interview with President Trump.
Musk continued: “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.”
Also weighing in, Trump said that his predecessor Joe Biden was ‘going to leave them in space’.
The duo failed to elaborate on how and why Biden might have left Williams and Wilmore up in space for political advantage.
President Trump and Elon Musk did a joint interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity (Fox News)
Going on to speak about the pending rescue mission, Musk said Trump instructed that they be brought home sooner than initially planned.
“We have brought astronauts back from the space station many times before, and always with success,” the SpaceX founder added.
Despite their successful track record, Musk insisted that the team will still be ‘extremely cautious’ about the mission.
It’s said that the SpaceX capsule will take around four weeks to get Williams and Wilmore safely back down to Earth.
UNILAD have attempted to reach out to Biden for comment.
