Elon Musk has had a heated exchange with famed astronaut Andreas Mogensen who accused has him of lying over claims that two NASA astronauts had been “left” in space.
Speaking during a pre-recorded interview with US President Donald Trump on Fox News, Mr Musk alleged the astronauts had been “left up there for political reasons” – a claim Mr Mogensen denounced as a “lie”.
The SpaceX CEO said he was working to “accelerate” the return of NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) at the president’s “instruction”.
Mr Musk, who also leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory department under the Trump administration, said the astronauts’ return had been “postponed to a ridiculous degree”.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, pointed the finger at former President Joe Biden, as he said: “They got left in space”.
Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen shared a clip of the Fox News interview on X and said: “What a lie.
“And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.”
Andreas Mogensen. File pic: Reuters
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Mr Musk retorted by calling the astronaut an “idiot”.
“SpaceX could have brought them back several months ago,” Mr Musk wrote.
“I OFFERED THIS DIRECTLY to the Biden administration and they refused. Return WAS pushed back for political reasons. Idiot.”
