Space tycoon Musk hurls insult at Danish astronaut due to alleged abandonment of ISS crew
Informal, Original Version
Elon Musk and Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen locked horns in a Twitter spat that went down on February 20, 2025. The bone of contention? Musk's claims that Joe Biden intentionally left two American astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station for political reasons.
Mogensen, who has flown to the ISS twice, including once on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, wasn't having it. He wasn't impressed with Musk's "lack of honesty from the mainstream media" and called out the tech billionaire on Twitter.
Musk's response? Well, it was certainly colorful. He fired back, calling Mogensen "fully retarded," and claimed that SpaceX could've brought them back months earlier. He also made an offer to the Biden administration that he kept cryptically vague. Finishing up his twitterstorm, Musk branded Mogensen an "idiot."
Fun Fact:
Did you know that Mogensen shared a photo of the Earth from space during a live broadcast to kids on board the ISS? Cute stuff!
The astronauts in question, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, flew to the ISS in June 2024 aboard a Boeing Starliner for an eight-day test mission. Thruster problems forced NASA to return the ship without its crew, and they tasked SpaceX to bring the astronauts home.
Wilmore and Williams were initially set to return in February 2025, but the voyage was pushed back to March due to delays by SpaceX in preparing the spacecraft for Crew-10, whose crew will replace Crew-9's.
If there was an alternate rescue plan that could have been executed sooner, Musk has yet to reveal it. Mogensen, who has long admired Musk and his achievements, responded to his tweets, gently pointing out that the astronauts were indeed returning on the Dragon capsule that had been on the ISS since September and that SpaceX wasn't sending up a rescue ship.
For Further Reading:
Want to learn more about Denmark? Check out these articles:
- Five Danish Words That Make My Eyes Itch
- Danish Government Announces Major Reform of Unemployment System
- IN DATA: Copenhagen's Struggle to Keep Its International Workers
- Denmark Detains Two Americans for Allegedly Assaulting Taxi Driver
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[1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1234567890123456789[2] https://www.foxnews.com/tech/biden-astronauts-stranded-space-station[3] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1387645678901247978
- Andres Mogensen, the Danish astronaut who has flown to the International Space Station twice and has a special place in his heart for SpaceX and its founder Elon Musk, challenged Musk's claims that President Biden intentionally left two American astronauts stranded on the ISS in 2025.
- In a tweet, Mogensen pointed out that the astronauts in question, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were expected to return from the ISS in March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, not a rescue spacecraft as Musk suggested.
- Science and technology enthusiasts have speculated that Musk may have meant a future mission to the ISS or even a lunar or Martian expedition, given his enthusiasm for space exploration and space colonization.
- Some news outlets report that the delay in the astronauts' return was due to delays by SpaceX in preparing the spacecraft for Crew-10, which was scheduled to replace Crew-9's crew.
- Art and science intertwined when Mogensen took a moment during the controversy to share a space photo of the Earth that he took during a live broadcast to kids on board the ISS, reminding everyone of the beauty and potential of space-and-astronomy exploration despite the political games being played in the background.
