Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have refuted Elon Musk’s claim that they are stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) due to “political reasons”. The SpaceX founder claimed that the pair had been left behind due to a delay in their return, but astronauts Andreas Mogensen and Chris Hadfield have stated that this is not the case.
According to NASA, technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft delayed Williams and Wilmore’s scheduled return to early September. Instead, they will now be returning with Crew-9 alongside other astronauts on March 19th.
The astronauts emphasized that they are not feeling abandoned or stranded, but rather “prepared and committed” to their mission. Mogensen, who commanded the ISS between September 2023 to early 2024, called out Musk’s claims as a lie and accused him of being dishonest about the matter.
Musk had previously claimed that SpaceX could have brought Williams and Wilmore back months ago if it weren’t for “political reasons”. However, Mogensen revealed that the astronauts are actually scheduled to return with Crew-9, which has been the plan since last September.
Source: https://fortune.com/2025/02/21/elon-musk-astronauts-nasa-sunita-williams-barry-wilmore