NASA Astronauts Respond After Elon Musk Calls Former Commander Of ISS A Slur

First, a little necessary background. Last year, on June 5, Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore departed for the International Space Station on board Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. The trip was only supposed to last eight days, but due to problems with the Starliner ship, the astronauts were unable to return on their departure date, and the spacecraft returned uncrewed.

Though not ideal, the situation was not without precedent. Astronauts and cosmonauts have had to stay longer on various space stations after similar problems. 

In September 2023, astronaut Frank Rubio became the first NASA astronaut to stay in space for over a year. In 2022, Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin became stuck on the ISS when the cosmonauts’ ship became damaged by a meteoroid, resulting in a coolant leak. A second Soyuz spacecraft was sent to return the three to Earth safely. However, the crew could not simply leave the ISS, and remained to conduct the work which would have been carried out by a fresh crew delivery in the now-empty Soyuz craft.

Others have been stranded in space following the failures of shuttles. For instance, following the Columbia disaster in 2003, when the Columbia shuttle disintegrated during re-entry with seven astronauts on board, NASA suspended flights for two years whilst it investigated the failure. Astronauts then had to rely on the Soyuz spacecraft, and those still in space had to stay there for a few extra months.

Unfortunately, delays like this are part and parcel of human spaceflight, and operating a space station orbiting around the Earth. In order to run the space station properly and keep a human presence in space – and conduct all the research taking place on it – you need an adequate crew. Knowing this, Williams and Wilmore agreed to stay on board while NASA collaborated with Musk’s SpaceX on a return mission, to take place in March. For their part, the astronauts do not seem too unhappy with the situation, and have even participated in a space walk during normal ISS operations.

“We’re doing pretty darn good, actually. You know, we’ve got food, we’ve got clothes. We have great crew members up here,” Willams told CNN in an interview that aired on Friday, February 13, 2025.

“We don’t feel abandoned. We don’t feel stuck. We don’t feel stranded,” Wilmore added. “I understand why others may think that. We come prepared. We come committed. That is what your human spaceflight program is: It prepares for any and all contingencies that we can conceive of, and we prepare for those.”

Despite Space X’s involvement in the agreed return in March, and the statements of the astronauts themselves, Musk and US President Donald Trump have claimed that the astronauts had been “abandoned” in space by the Biden administration. In an interview with Fox News, Musk drew the irritation of ESA astronaut and former ISS commander Andreas Mogensen.

“We are accelerating the return of the astronauts, which was postponed kind of to a ridiculous degree,” Musk said in the interview, adding, “they were left up there for political reasons, which is not good.”

“What a lie,” Mogensen replied on X. “And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.”

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It was to this which Musk, 53, responded with the R-word, a slur used against people with intellectual disabilities.

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“Elon, I have long admired you and what you have accomplished, especially at SpaceX and Tesla,” Mogensen replied. “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.”

While Mogensen said his piece, former NASA astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly also jumped to his defense.

“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’ve ever met,” Scott Kelly replied. “This rhetoric is beyond the pale but, sadly, not surprising. He does not deserve this kind of disrespect.”

“Yes, he does. He is an idiot who publicly attacked me, despite having no idea what ACTUALLY happened,” Musk replied. “Btw, your brother claims to be independent, but is just a Dem donor shill.”

Following this, Scott Kelly’s brother and fellow astronaut Senator Mark Kelly invited Musk to chat further in space.

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The spat, and unnecessary slur, follows Musk’s statement that he wishes to deorbit the ISS ahead of schedule. 

“It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the @Space_Station. It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let’s go to Mars,” he wrote on X, adding, “The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible. I recommend 2 years from now.”

Musk’s SpaceX has been commissioned to develop and build the deorbit vehicle which will be used to bring the ISS down to Earth safely. It is unclear whether advancing the timescale of the deorbit will lead to increased costs, though perhaps this is something Musk-run DOGE should be investigating.

The current plan is to deorbit the aging space station in 2030. With no replacement, the astronauts aboard China’s Tiangong space station will become humanity’s only permanent presence in space. It remains to be seen whether the ISS deorbit plan will be advanced as Musk wishes, if Trump is on board too. Such a decision could cause problems with partners around the world. As the “I” at the beginning of “ISS” indicates, the project is an international collaboration.