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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen got into a heated exchange on X this Thursday.
Mogensen, who once served as the commander of the International Space Station (ISS), took to X to call out Elon Musk for claiming that Williams and Wilmore were left stranded in space by former president Joe Biden. However, Musk, who was appointed by President Trump to bring back the two astronauts, shot back, questioning his mental capabilities.
Andreas Mogensen is an astronaut born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He graduated with a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Imperial College London in the UK in 1999. It was only in 2009 that Mogensen began working as an astronaut. He also serves as an adjunct lecturer at both the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space) and the University of Aalborg.
Andreas Mogensen fires shots at Elon Musk, says he's fabricating stories: Read more
Andreas Mogensen, 48, took to X to share a clip from Fox News of Trump and Musk, in which the latter claimed that Williams and Bilmore were left stranded in space for nearly 300 days at the hands of Biden due to "political reasons." In the interview, when asked when the astronauts would come back, Musk can be heard positing a maximum of "four weeks to bring them back."
However, Morgensen felt they were fabricating stories:
"What a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media," Mogensen penned on X.
However, Elon Musk shot back with a slur and called him an "idiot."
"You are fully r*******. 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," Musk stated.
Mogensen shot back by accusing Elon Musk of delaying the mission to bring back the two astronauts home:
"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.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams went to Space in June last year. They flew to the ISS via a Boeing Starliner, and they were initially supposed to come back after eight days. However, citing thruster issues, NASA brought the Starliner home without the astronauts, and the duty to bring them back home was handed over to SpaceX.
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