- Elon Musk stated that NASA Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore are trapped at ISS for political reasons, although their return has been postponed due to technical problems. Astronauts Andreas Migensen and Chris Hadfield refuted Musk’s allegations, reaffirming the mission’s schedule.
He was involved in a dispute with two astronauts, who claim that he is lying about two supposedly “abandoned” employees in the space by the Biden administration. Spacex founder Musk and the president repeatedly stated that the Sunni commander “Suni” Williams and Captain Barry “Butch” Wilmore were abandoned at the International Space Station (ISS).
Commander Williams itself and Captain Wilmore confirmed that this is not true, explaining that the return to land was postponed due to technical problems in one of the ships.
Despite this, Musk stated that they were left there for political reasons.
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“What a lie,” posted Andreas Migensen, an astronaut who led ISS between September 2023 and early 2024 at the X, above a musk interview clip.
“And someone who complains about the lack of honesty of traditional media,” he added.
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The criticism of a respected member of the space community caused a furious response from Spacex head Musk.
Starting his diatribe with an insult against Migensen, Musk continued: “Spacex could have brought them back several months ago.
“I offered this directly to the Biden administration and they refused. The return was postponed for political reasons. ”
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He then called idiotic Migensen.
The Danish astronaut and aerospace engineer replied: “Elon, I always admired you and what you have achieved, especially at Spacex and Tesla.
“You know as well as I Butch and Suni are returning with Crew-9, as planned since last September. Even now, you are not sending a rescue ship to bring them home.
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“They are returning in the Dragon capsule that has been on ISS since last September.”
Migensen’s report was supported by another ISS commander, retired Canadian astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield.
The commander, who flew in three missions, reposed in exchange a point he did earlier this week, which says: “Suni and Butch were never ‘abandoned’ in space. They are prepared and committed to the mission, like all professional astronauts.
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“Suni is the commander of the space station, they are doing space walks, working hard on behalf of NASA and all partners, having the time of their lives.”
Representatives of the White House, Spacex and NASA did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Why are Williams and Wilmore still in space?
NASA employees should return to Earth aboard Boeing’s Starliner in early September.
However, NASA and Boeing said they identified Helium leaks and faced problems with spacecraft reaction control drivers in June.
In a statement in August, NASA said engineers made a “significant” number of testing, contingency planning and revisions.
However, “the uncertainty and lack of agreement of experts [não atenderam] safety and performance requirements of the human space flight agency. ”
As a result, the pair was reprogrammed to return along with the upcoming return-9 (Crew-9) group to return next month aboard Spacex Dragon spacecraft.
The teams aboard ISS work together, with a team coming while the next one leaves. Crew-10 is scheduled to arrive at ISS in March.
As a result, instead of being in space for just over a week, Commander Williams and Captain Wilmore have been on ISS for months – an unusual experience for NASA astronauts.
During this time, the allegations of Musk and President Trump changed criticism of the Biden administration to allegations that the pair was left in space for “political reasons.”
What do astronauts say?
Commander Williams and Captain Wilmore-both former Navy Capitães-explained why they didn’t return home early, although a manned Dragon has been moved at ISS since September.
“The plan is that Crew-10 will be launched on March 12, they will come here, will find and dock-we will make a transition for about a week, and we will return around March 19,” said Captain Wilmore to CNN this week.
“We take crews to and the space station, we have a cycle of a time period when these things happen, and change this cycle sends chain effects throughout the line,” added Captain Wilmore. “We would never expect to come back especially for us – or anyone – unless it was a medical problem or something really, really out of the circumstances.”
“We don’t feel abandoned. We don’t feel trapped. We don’t feel stranded, ”he added. “I understand why others can think that. We have come prepared, we have come compromised… If you help us change the narrative, let’s change it to prepared and committed versus what you have heard. ”
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