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Elon Musk has claimed that he could have returned the NASA astronauts months ago but the idea was ‘rejected’ by the Biden Administration.
The bold claim was made shortly after NASA astronauts Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore made their descent back down to Earth in the SpaceX Dragon capsule yesterday (March 18).
The space firm’s founder spoke to Fox News presenter Sean Hannity, arguing that former President Joe Biden had refused a proposal to bring the stranded astronauts back sooner.
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Williams and Wilmore embarked on what was meant to be an eight-day mission back in June 2024 but after multiple failures impacted their spacecraft, they became stuck on the International Space Station.
Since then, the pair have been waiting to be picked up by another crew, with NASA working with SpaceX to bring them home.
Musk has previously claimed that he had offered the previous administration an earlier return date.
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Speaking about that, Hannity said: “I heard somebody earlier today say in fact it didn’t happen when I believe it did.”
In response, Musk replied: “No, we definitely offered to return the astronauts earlier, there’s no question about that.
“The astronauts were only supposed to be there for eight days and they’ve been there for almost 10 months, so obviously that doesn’t make any sense.
“SpaceX could have brought the astronauts back after a few months at most and we made that offer to the Biden Administration, it was rejected for political reasons and that’s just a fact.”
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Earlier in the conversation, Musk publicly thanked President Trump, adding: “A huge note of appreciation to President Trump for prioritizing and expediting their return.”
However, NASA officials have contradicted Musk’s claims.
In a press conference held on March 4, officials for the space agency cited both safety and budget concerns over conducting a separate mission to pick up the astronauts.
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They also said that it was a desire to maintain a crew on the ISS that was one of the main reasons behind the decision to have Williams and Wilmore remain in space until they could be taken home with the SpaceX crew.
Musk went on to share some exciting news about the future of space travel, discussing the upcoming launch of ‘truly a revolutionary rocket’.
Musk said: “Starship is the first rocket that has the potential to make life multi-planetary, make us a multi-planet civilization for the first time in the history of Earth and that’s truly profound.”