Disturbing reason NASA 'abandoned' stranded astronauts in space
Technology
'Political reasons' cited as reason for ‘leaving 'them in space'
(Web Desk) - A public blame-game has erupted over who's responsible for leaving two NASA astronauts stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for over eight months.
Last week, Elon Musk blamed NASA's choice to extend Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore's ISS mission on 'political reasons' during a FOX News joint interview with President Donald Trump, who added that Biden was going to 'leave them in space.'
Rudy Ridolfi, a respected former Space System Commander in the US military, told DailyMail.com that 'the Biden administration's vitriolic hate for Elon' may have influenced how NASA handled the situation.
Williams and Wilmore embarked on what was supposed to be an eight-day ISS mission aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft last June. But their capsule was plagued by thruster issues and helium leaks before, during and after the launch.
These numerous technical issues drove NASA to postpone the astronauts' return flight, but the agency still entertained the possibility of using Starliner to bring them home and gave Boeing more than 12 weeks to try and fix the issues from the ground.
In late August, NASA officials decided there was still too much uncertainty about Starliner's performance and tapped SpaceX to bring Williams and Wilmore home instead, sending Starliner home uncrewed the following month.
But 'Elon coming to the rescue was not in the cards,' Ridolfi said. He suggested the reason NASA did not tap SpaceX sooner may have been due to the Biden administration's contentious relationship with its CEO, Musk.
'The Biden Administration relying on SpaceX to return the astronauts would put its decisions on Starliner into question,' he said. 'In their world, Boeing was the leading space company.'
Since that August decision, Williams and Wilmore's return date has been changed multiple times. Currently, NASA is aiming to bring them home around March 19 or 20.
By that time, what should have been an eight-day mission will have extended to more than nine months.
On Thursday, Musk claimed he tried to accelerate the Starliner crew's return long ago, but was turned down.
