Elon Musk claims Biden administration left Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore in space for political reasons; Donald Trump backs SpaceX CEO
Appearing alongside Trump during an interview on Fox News, Musk said: “They were left up there for political reasons, which is not good,” he said. “Okay, it's not good...Well, we don't want to be complacent, but we have brought astronauts back from the space station many times before, and always with success.”
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Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman and senior advisor to US President Donald Trump, made a startling claim against the Joe Biden administration during a Fox News interview on Tuesday, saying that the administration left astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore in space for political reasons.
The SpaceX CEO was referring to NASA astronauts of Indian origin, Williams, and Wilmore, who have been stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) since June.
NASA and SpaceX are assigned to bring them back by March 19, 2025, through Crew-10, which is scheduled to leave for ISS on March 12.
Appearing alongside Trump during an interview on Fox News, Musk said: “They were left up there for political reasons, which is not good,” he said.
“Okay, it's not good...Well, we don't want to be complacent, but we have brought astronauts back from the space station many times before, and always with success.”
Even as he blamed the Biden administration for the delay, Trump seconded him, “They didn't have the go-ahead with Biden. He was going to leave them in space purposedly.”
Why are Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore stuck in space?
Both astronauts left for space in June and were supposed to come back to Earth after a week, but their spacecraft, Dreamliner, had some technical problems, due to which the duo couldn't come back.
Now NASA and SpaceX are sending the Crew-10 mission on March 12, which is scheduled to bring Sunita and Wilmore back in a week.
Who is Sunita Williams?
Sunita Williams' India connection
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