{"id":21455,"date":"2025-02-22T22:57:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T14:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/elon-musk-insults-former-iss-commander-over-starliner-crew-situation\/"},"modified":"2025-02-22T22:57:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T14:57:26","slug":"elon-musk-insults-former-iss-commander-over-starliner-crew-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/elon-musk-insults-former-iss-commander-over-starliner-crew-situation\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk insults former ISS commander over Starliner crew situation"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"img-border featured-image\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/Elon_Musk_Colorado_2022.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/Elon_Musk_Colorado_2022.jpg?w=320&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/Elon_Musk_Colorado_2022.jpg?w=640&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/Elon_Musk_Colorado_2022.jpg?w=1024&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/Elon_Musk_Colorado_2022.jpg?w=1500&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1500w\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-attachment-id=\"42824\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/2025\/02\/21\/musk-insults-former-iss-commander-over-starliner-crew-situation\/elon_musk_colorado_2022\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/Elon_Musk_Colorado_2022.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all\" data-orig-size=\"1280,852\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"Elon_Musk_Colorado_2022\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\n\n<p>Image: US Air Force<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/Elon_Musk_Colorado_2022.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024&#8243;><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\tImage: US Air Force\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drama has once again emerged regarding the Starliner crew. The crew has become the subject of political debate, despite the mission\u2019s apolitical nature. This controversy follows Elon Musk\u2019s insults toward a former ISS commander after comments about an interview between Musk and President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-42822\"><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cWe don\u2019t feel abandoned, we don\u2019t feel stuck, we don\u2019t feel stranded\u2026 \u2026if you\u2019ll help us change the rhetoric, help us change the narrative, let\u2019s change it to prepared and committed. That\u2019s what you\u2019ve been hearing. That\u2019s what we\u2019d prefer\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Butch Wilmore during a CNN interview<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A common misconception must be addressed. The crew is not in danger, nor are they short on supplies. Sufficient food, water, air, and clothing have been provided for the extended mission.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-starliner-s-issues-leading-to-this\">Starliner\u2019s issues leading to this<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a brief review, on June 5, 2024, Barry \u201cButch\u201d Wilmore and Sunita Williams launched aboard Boeing\u2019s Starliner. This marked Boeing\u2019s third mission for the spacecraft and its first crewed launch. The vehicle had been developed alongside SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon under NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program. However, persistent issues have affected the vehicle\u2019s development.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Starliner OFT-1, launched in 2019, failed to dock with the ISS due to incorrect programming. A second mission, OFT-2, was launched in 2022 to complete OFT-1\u2019s objectives. OFT-2 was nearly perfect, aside from a few thruster failures. Boeing covered the full cost of OFT-2, with no funding provided by NASA or the U.S. government.<\/p>\n<p>\t<span class=\"outbrain-ad-label\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<script type=\"text\/plain\">\n\t\t\twindow.adSlotsConfig = window.adSlotsConfig || [];<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tadSlotsConfig.push( {\n\t\t\t\tslotID: '\/1049447\/Outbrain',\n\t\t\t\tslotName: 'div-gpt-ad-outbrain-ad-42822',\n\t\t\t\tsizes: [300, 250],\n\t\t\t\tslotPosition: 'mid_article'\n\t\t\t} );\n\t\t<\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After OFT-2\u2019s success, Wilmore and Williams were launched to the ISS. However, thruster issues and a helium leak developed, similar to OFT-2. NASA decided to return the Starliner capsule alone and merge the Starliner crew with SpaceX\u2019s Crew-9 team. Crew-9 arrived at the ISS on September 29, 2024.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-drama\">The Drama<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On February 18, Sean Hannity interviewed Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. The Starliner crew\u2019s return plan was discussed, and Musk stated:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYes, they were left up there for political reasons, which is not good.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response, Andreas Mogensen replied on X:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mogensen, a Danish astronaut, has flown twice. He served as a Flight Engineer on Soyuz TMA-18M and as a Pilot for SpaceX\u2019s Crew-7 mission. His tenure as ISS Commander lasted from September 27, 2023, to April 6, 2024, during Expedition 70.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"681\" height=\"1023\" data-attachment-id=\"42825\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/2025\/02\/21\/musk-insults-former-iss-commander-over-starliner-crew-situation\/iss-44_andreas_mogensen_in_the_destiny_lab\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/ISS-44_Andreas_Mogensen_in_the_Destiny_lab.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all\" data-orig-size=\"681,1023\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"ISS-44_Andreas_Mogensen_in_the_Destiny_lab\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\n\n<p>Image: NASA<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/ISS-44_Andreas_Mogensen_in_the_Destiny_lab.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;w=681&#8243; src=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/ISS-44_Andreas_Mogensen_in_the_Destiny_lab.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all&#8221; alt=&#8221;&#8221; class=&#8221;wp-image-42825&#8243; srcset=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/ISS-44_Andreas_Mogensen_in_the_Destiny_lab.jpg 681w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/ISS-44_Andreas_Mogensen_in_the_Destiny_lab.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/ISS-44_Andreas_Mogensen_in_the_Destiny_lab.jpg?resize=233,350 233w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/ISS-44_Andreas_Mogensen_in_the_Destiny_lab.jpg?resize=140,210 140w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/ISS-44_Andreas_Mogensen_in_the_Destiny_lab.jpg?resize=666,1000 666w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/ISS-44_Andreas_Mogensen_in_the_Destiny_lab.jpg?resize=150,225 150w&#8221; sizes=&#8221;(max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px&#8221;><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elon Musk then responded directly to Mogensen, saying (verbatim):<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou are fully retarded. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Musk claimed that an offer to bring the crew home had been made but was refused. However, on August 30, 2024, NASA released a statement confirming that the Starliner crew would return with Crew-9.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In another discussion with @DrPhilTil, Musk continued to insult Mogensen, stating:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd this so-called \u2018Commander\u2019 doesn\u2019t know his ass from a hole in the ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dude has no clue what\u2019s really going on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He\u2019s a passenger.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Mogensen was not a passenger but the Crew-7 mission pilot. No evidence supports Musk\u2019s claim, and none has been provided by him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper, Butch Wilmore stated:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe bring crews to and from space station. We have a cycle of period of time where those things take place. And to alter that cycle sends ripple effects all the way down the chain. We would never expect to come back, just special for us or anyone unless it was a medical issue or something really, really out of the circumstances along those lines. So we need to come back and keep the normal cycle going.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Musk\u2019s claim contradicts both existing evidence and standard NASA procedures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If President Trump follows Musk\u2019s proposal, then only one American, Don Pettit, would remain on the ISS. He arrived aboard Soyuz MS-26. The rest of the crew would consist solely of Russian cosmonauts: Ivan Vagner and Aleksey Ovchinin. This situation would match the low U.S. presence seen between the Shuttle program\u2019s end and Crew Dragon\u2019s debut.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"42826\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/2025\/02\/21\/musk-insults-former-iss-commander-over-starliner-crew-situation\/ggjz-ymwuaakfon\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all\" data-orig-size=\"1612,2160\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\n\n<p>Image: SpaceX<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;w=764&#8243; height=&#8221;1024&#8243; width=&#8221;764&#8243; src=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;w=764&#8243; alt=&#8221;&#8221; class=&#8221;wp-image-42826&#8243; srcset=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg 1612w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?resize=224,300 224w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?resize=768,1029 768w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?resize=764,1024 764w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?resize=1146,1536 1146w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?resize=1528,2048 1528w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?resize=261,350 261w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?resize=140,188 140w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?resize=746,1000 746w, https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/02\/GgJZ-yMWUAAKfOn.jpg?resize=150,201 150w&#8221; sizes=&#8221;auto, (max-width: 764px) 100vw, 764px&#8221;><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Starliner was not the only spacecraft experiencing delays. Crew-10 was originally scheduled to launch in February. However, SpaceX required additional time to prepare the newly built Crew Dragon, C213 (name to be assigned on its first flight). Instead, Crew Dragon Endurance will now launch Crew-10. This change was announced on February 11.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Had C213 been ready sooner, the Starliner crew could have returned this month instead of next. This indicates that SpaceX, not political interference, caused the recent mission extension.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Musk\u2019s reasoning also remains inconsistent. If Biden wanted the Starliner crew home earlier, Crew-9 could have returned them upon arrival in September. Their departure spacecraft has been docked since then. Instead, keeping them until the scheduled rotation minimizes disruption to NASA and its partners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Musk continued defending his claims beyond his exchange with Mogensen. X user @KenKirtland17 posted the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJust to make this clear the Musk lie about the astronauts isn\u2019t \u2018SpaceX offered a mission.\u2019 The lie is that \u2018NASA and the NASA and even Biden (lmao) didn\u2019t want SpaceX to bring the astronauts home because he no likey Elon \ud83d\ude14\u2019 even though that\u2019s exactly what NASA did during Biden (which off rip tells you how absurd this dumbass lie is).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why would NASA pay for a whole new Crew Dragon Mission $200M+ to interrupt the ISS schedule to bring astronauts back a few months earlier (for no reasons). When they could just leave them on the ISS for free, put them to work on the station, and bring them back on the next scheduled Dragon? Which is what they decided. Answer that fucking question or shut the fuck up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This wasn\u2019t done because of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Musk, displeased with this post, replied saying\u2013<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou are the liar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the people you cite were not party to the discussions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Liar.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">X\u2019s Community Notes disputed Musk\u2019s claims, citing seven sources proving Ken\u2019s statements correct. Earlier that day, Musk said he wanted to change the Community Notes system. It is unclear whether his being routinely fact-checked influenced this decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even a day after this drama took place, Elon continues to pick fights with NASA astronauts. With former ISS commander and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly saying the following to Elon\u2019s previous comments-<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was the Commander of the @ISS when Andy, @Astro_Andreas flew his first space mission. He is one of the most competent, trustworthy, and honest people I\u2019ve ever met. This rhetoric is beyond the pale but, sadly, not surprising. He does not deserve this kind of disrespect.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elon responded by continuing to insult Andreas and doubling down on his position, saying the following\u2013 <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, he does. He is an idiot who publicly attacked me, despite having no idea what ACTUALLY happened.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elon\u2019s rhetoric is quite aggressive against both NASA\u2019s plans and NASA\u2019s employees. Space Explored reached out to NASA for a statement in response to Elon\u2019s comments and behavior. We have not yet received a reply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk then responded directly to Mogensen, saying (verbatim): \u201cYou are fully retarded. 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.\u201d Musk claimed that an offer to bring the crew home had been made but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}