Elon Musk has made an outlandish claim about why two NASA astronauts ended up being stuck in space.
In June 2024, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore embarked on what was supposed to be an eight-day mission.
However, upon making it to the International Space Station, the duo were unable to return back to Earth as planned do it technical issues with their Boeing capsule.
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While the capsule has since returned to Earth, it wasn't safe for Williams and Wilmore to board it and they've since remained at the ISS for the last few months.
SpaceX is set to bring the two NASA astronauts home in the near future — over eight months later than planned.
NASA said in a recent update: "NASA and SpaceX are accelerating the target launch and return dates for the upcoming crew rotation missions to and from the International Space Station.
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"The agency’s Crew-10 launch now is targeting Wednesday, March 12, pending mission readiness and completion of the agency’s certification of flight readiness process. The Crew-9 mission is planned for return to Earth following a several day handover period with the newly arrived Crew-10 expedition crew."
In the wake of the mishap involving Williams and Wilmore's drastically extended stay at the ISS, Elon Musk — SpaceX's founder — has weighed in on why it happened.
Speaking to Fox News, Musk alleged that the ordeal comes down to 'political reasons'.
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"They were left up there for political reasons, which is not good," he said in a joint interview with President Trump.
Musk continued: "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."
Also weighing in, Trump said that his predecessor Joe Biden was 'going to leave them in space'.
The duo failed to elaborate on how and why Biden might have left Williams and Wilmore up in space for political advantage.
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Going on to speak about the pending rescue mission, Musk said Trump instructed that they be brought home sooner than initially planned.
"We have brought astronauts back from the space station many times before, and always with success," the SpaceX founder added.
Despite their successful track record, Musk insisted that the team will still be 'extremely cautious' about the mission.
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It's said that the SpaceX capsule will take around four weeks to get Williams and Wilmore safely back down to Earth.
UNILAD have attempted to reach out to Biden for comment.
Topics: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, International Space Station, Joe Biden, NASA, Politics, Space X, Space
Niamh Shackleton