SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Pegs Delay In Returning Sunita Williams And Butch Wilmore From Space Station To 'Political Reasons'

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Thursday alleged that the return of the astronauts who went to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Boeing Co.’s Starliner spacecraft last year – Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore – was delayed owing to “political reasons.”

What Happened: “SpaceX could have brought the astronauts back last year, but Biden pushed the return past the inauguration date,” Musk said in a post on social media platform X.

Musk alleged that the administration did not discuss the price of the mission when he offered to return the astronauts several months ago but flatly refused.

“We would have made it work within the annual budget. The real issue is that they did not want positive press for someone who supported Trump,” Musk, a Trump-ally, said.

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who was part of SpaceX’s crew-7 mission, alleged that Musk’s claim was a lie, leading to a heated exchange between the billionaire and the astronaut.

“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 said.

Musk, however, resorted to name-calling and said that Mogensen has “no clue what’s really going on.”

Return Of Starliner Astronauts: Williams and Wilmore launched to the International Space Station aboard Starliner spacecraft in June and were supposed to return in about eight days.

However, technical issues identified with the spacecraft while docking delayed a return, and the space agency subsequently decided to scrap bringing back the two astronauts on the Starliner spacecraft.

The Starliner subsequently returned without the astronauts on Sept. 6. The two astronauts, NASA then said, will return with Crew 9 members Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov when they return home aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

NASA said earlier this month that it intends to return Williams and Wilmore earlier than previously expected.

The space agency said that it is now targeting Wednesday, March 12 for the launch of its Crew-10 mission to the space station.

Following a few days' handover period where crew-9 astronauts will familiarize the newly arrived crew-10 with ongoing science and station maintenance work, crew-9 will return to Earth with Hague, Williams, Wilmore, and Gorbunov aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.

The return of crew-9, however, will also rely on weather conditions at the dragon spacecraft's splashdown site off the coast of Florida, NASA said.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Read Next:

• Elon Musk-Led SpaceX Likely To Undertake Starship's 8th Test Flight On Feb 26: Here's What We Know

Photo courtesy: NASA