Billionaire and tech titan Elon Musk shared his congratulations to SpaceX and NASA following the rescue of two astronauts stranded on the Worldwide Area Station for roughly the previous 9 months.
“Due to the superb work of the SpaceX workforce working with NASA, the astronauts at the moment are safely dwelling. And so congratulations to the SpaceX NASA groups on glorious work,” Musk mentioned throughout an unique interview on “Hannity” Tuesday.
The SpaceX founder and face of the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) additionally supplied a “large word of appreciation” to President Donald Trump “for prioritizing and expediting the return.”
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had been on the Worldwide Area Station since June 2024.
Their mission was solely scheduled to final one week after the launch of Boeing’s first astronaut flight.
Nevertheless, after the spacecraft encountered technical points, and NASA decided it unsafe for it to reach again to Earth with the astronauts on board, Wilmore and Williams remained caught on the Worldwide Area Station for months.
Wilmore, Williams, Crew-9 Commander Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov made their return to Earth on Tuesday, with a splashdown off the coast of Florida simply earlier than 6 p.m. ET.
Wilmore and Williams’ return turned a political difficulty for the Trump administration, with Musk beforehand telling Fox Information host Sean Hannity on Feb. 18 that Biden left the astronauts in area for “political causes.”
Shortly after taking workplace, Trump tasked Musk with bringing dwelling the 2 astronauts, who he mentioned had been “deserted” by the Biden administration.
Trump additionally blasted former President Joe Biden for not appearing sooner.
“I’ve simply requested Elon Musk and @SpaceX to ‘go get’ the two courageous astronauts who’ve been just about deserted in area by the Biden Administration. They’ve been ready for a lot of months on @Area Station. Elon will quickly be on his manner. Hopefully, all will likely be protected. Good luck Elon!!!” posted Trump on the time.
Keegan Barber/UPI/Shutterstock
In a post-landing information convention with SpaceX and NASA officers on Tuesday, Deputy Affiliate Administrator, NASA Area Operations Mission Directorate Joel Montalbano was requested about Trump and Musk’s claims that the Biden administration didn’t need to carry the Starliner crew again for political causes.
“Yeah, so I wasn’t concerned in any conversations with the earlier administration,” Montalbano mentioned. “It was clear we had a request from the present administration, and the outcomes you noticed are what we noticed at this time with the touchdown of Crew-9.”
Hannity pressed Musk on the politics behind the astronauts’ delayed return, and Musk set the file straight on his communications with the earlier Biden administration.
“We positively supplied to return the astronauts earlier. There’s no query about that,” Musk mentioned.
“The astronauts had been solely speculated to be there for eight days, and so they’ve been there for nearly ten months. So, clearly, that doesn’t make any sense. SpaceX might have introduced the astronauts again after a couple of months at most, and we made that provide to the Biden administration. It was rejected for political causes, and that’s only a reality.”
Supply hyperlink
