Idiot: Elon Musk feuds with astronaut over Sunita Williams’ return from space

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has been tasked by US President Donald Trump to bring astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back from space, got into a spat on X with Danish astronaut Andreas ‘Andy’ Mogenson over the matter on Thursday. Mogensen, who is the former commander of the International Space Station (ISS), called out Musk for claiming Williams and Wilmore were abandoned in space by ex-US President Joe Biden.

Mogensen, 48, shared a clip on X of a joint interview to Fox News by Musk and Trump, in which the SpaceX CEO alleged that Williams and Bilmore – who have been aboard the ISS for nearly 300 days – were abandoned by Biden due to “political reasons”.

“What a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media,” Mogensen wrote on the social media platform.

Musk countered by calling the ex-ISS commander an “idiot”. “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,” the tech billionaire replied.

Mogensen, a European Space Agency astronaut, had flown to the ISS twice, including aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule during a 2023 mission.

The 48-year-old astronaut responded to Musk’s dig by accusing the latter of delaying Williams and Wilmore’s rescue mission.

“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,” Mogensen tweeted.

During the Fox News interview, Trump asked Musk when the tech billionaire would be bringing the astronauts back. To this, the SpaceX CEO replied, “I think it’s about four weeks to bring them back.”

The 78-year-old President also chimed in to jab Biden, alleging his predecessor was going to “leave them (astronauts) in space” because he “didn’t want the publicity”.

This is not the first time that Trump has accused Biden of abandoning the two astronauts in space. Last month, after making a similar claim, the US President said on Truth Social that he has tasked SpaceX to bring them home “as soon as possible”. “Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long,” he had written.

Butch Wilmore and Indian-origin Sunita Williams flew to the ISS in June last year onboard a Boeing Starliner for a mission that was supposed to last eight days to certify the new spaceship. But due to thruster issues, NASA decided that Starliner would return without the astronauts, whose coming back duty was then given to SpaceX.

Later, the space agency announced that Williams and Wilmore would return on the SpaceX Crew-9 mission’s spaceship, which was launched in September last year with a crew of two instead of four to accommodate them. After being initially scheduled to return in February, the astronauts will now return to earth on March 19.