Musk calls former International Space Station commander ‘idiot’ [and ‘retarded’] in exchange over astronauts

https://thehill.com/homenews/space/5155948-musk-calls-former-international-space-station-commander-idiot/

Tech billionaire Elon Musk called a former commander of the International Space Station an “idiot” on Thursday after he pushed back on Musk’s claim that the Biden administration “left” two astronauts in space “for political reasons.”

“What a lie,” Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen said on social platform X. “And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.”

Mogensen was responding to a clip of a recent Fox News interview in which Musk said that at President Trump’s direction, “we are accelerating the return of the astronauts” who “were left up there for political reasons, which is not good.”

In a separate post later on Thursday, Musk said, “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.”