NASA and SpaceX successfully launched the Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, paving the way for astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to come back home after nine months in space.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 4:33 am IST following a last-minute delay on Thursday.
Astronauts Thank Musk and Trump
In the course of this exchange, Musk shared a 25-second video on X in which Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore thanked him and former President Donald Trump.
Sunita Williams, in the video, says, “We are coming back before long, so don’t make those plans without me. We’ll be back before too long.” Then follows Wilmore’s comment: “All of us have the utmost respect for Mr. Musk, and obviously, respect and admiration for our president of the United States, Donald Trump. We appreciate them. We appreciate all that they do for us, for human spaceflight, for our nation.”
Musk’s Controversial Claims on Astronauts’ Delay
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has claimed that the previous U.S. President Joe Biden intentionally “abandoned” Williams and Wilmore in space, turning down previous return plans. Nevertheless, Musk has not come up with any concrete evidence to back up these assertions.
Crew-9, which made the trip in September, took just two astronauts rather than four, leaving room for Sunita Williams and Wilmore’s return. This was pointed out by Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen on social media, which sparked Musk to counter aggressively, going so far as to use offending language.
NASA Denies Political Interference
Trump and Musk have asserted that Williams and Wilmore were “abandoned” at the ISS for political reasons and blamed the Biden administration for holding them back. NASA, however, has strongly denied these claims, asserting that the schedule of the mission was part of a pre-arranged crew rotation.
Astronaut returns are also confirmed to be carefully planned by experts, taking into consideration safety and logistics. With the successful launch of Crew-10, the rotation process continues on track, and Williams and Wilmore will be back home safely shortly.