Another day, another Twitter rager and this time it’s between Elon Musk and three NASA astronauts.
It turns out being accused of doing a ‘Nazi salute’ wasn’t enough for Musk when it came to kicking off 2025, with the Tesla CEO having taken to Twitter to use a slur against a former NASA astronaut.
A clip from a Fox News broadcast of US President Donald Trump and Musk was shared to Twitter showing the pair discussing the two astronauts – Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore – who were meant to be in space in June for eight to days but now won’t return until March.
Musk says: “At the president’s instruction, we are accelerating the return of the astronauts which was postponed kind of, to a ridiculous degree.
“[…] They were left up there for political reasons which is not good.”
And it didn’t take long for European Space Agency astronaut and commander of ISS for Exp 70, aerospace engineer Andreas Mogensen to respond, resharing the post, adding: “What a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.”
Musk’s reply?
“You are fully r******d. SpaceX could have brought them back several months ago. I OFFERED THIS DIRECTLY to the Biden administration and they refused,” he said.
“Return WAS pushed back for political reasons. Idiot.”
Andreas Mogensen hit out at Elon Musk (Twitter/@Astro_Andreas)
Former NASA astronaut and US Navy Captain Scott Kelly then weighed in, arguing Mogensen is ‘one of the most competent, trustworthy and honest people’ he’s ‘ever met’, noting he would know as was the commander of the International Space Station when Mogensen ‘flew his first space mission’.
“This rhetoric is beyond the pale but, sadly, not surprising. He does not deserve this kind of disrespect,” he added.
Alas, Musk continued: “Yes, he does. He is an idiot who publicly attacked me, despite having no idea what ACTUALLY happened. Btw, your brother claims to be independent, but is just a Dem donor shill.”
Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly then tagged Musk and challenged him to ‘come talk to the three’ of them only when he ‘finally get[s] the nerve to climb into a rocket ship’.
*Mic drop* (Twitter/@CaptMarkKelly)
Mogensen later added: “Elon, I have long admired you and what you have accomplished, especially at SpaceX and Tesla.
“You know as well as I do, that Butch and Suni are returning with Crew-9, as has been the plan since last September.
“Even now, you are not sending up a rescue ship to bring them home. They are returning on the Dragon capsule that has been on ISS since last September.”
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.
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.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stuck on the ISS since June (NASA)
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.
“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’.
“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.
President Trump and Elon Musk did a joint interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity (Fox News)
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.
It’s said that the SpaceX capsule will take around four weeks to get Williams and Wilmore safely back down to Earth.
Donald Trump’s former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has been accused of making a ‘Nazi salute’ while giving a speech at a conference.
Last month, during the 47th President of the US Donald Trump’s inauguration celebration at the Capitol One Arena in Washington, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to the stage to say a few words and appeared to give a ‘Nazi salute’.
And on Thursday (February), Bannon took to the stage in Washington during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Bannon called for Trump to ‘be President for life’ alongside imploring people to ‘not retreat, not surrender, not quit’ and ‘fight’. He then raised his right arm in a straight line.
President of Project Liberal, Joshua Reed Eakle, took to Twitter to share a clip of the event, writing: “Steve Bannon, after calling for Trump to be President for life, did a Nazi salute on stage at CPAC.
“Nazism has officially taken over the GOP. The few remaining conservatives have a choice: either leave the party and obstruct it—or choose to be complicit.”
UNILAD has contacted a representative for Bannon for comment.
Former Trump advisor accused of doing ‘Nazi salute’ just weeks after Elon Musk did the same thing (CSPAN)
Bannon’s gesture follows soon after Musk was accused of doing the same arm movement.
The 53-year-old was speaking about the prospect of sending a man to Mars and planting an American flag during Trump’s inauguration celebration when he thumped his chest and shot his right arm out and up.
Musk said: “Thank you for making it happen. Thank you, my heart goes out to you,” before turning back to the audience and repeating the gesture towards the American flag.
The Twitter owner faced backlash from social media users but received support from antisemitism watchdog the Anti-Defamation League which wrote on Twitter: “It seems that [Musk] make an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people on on edge. This is a delicate moment. It’s a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety.
“In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”
Musk was similarly accused of doing a ‘Nazi salute’ ( ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
However, US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to the group, questioning if it was really ‘defending a Heil Hitler salute that was performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity’.
She resolved: “People can officially stop listening to you as any sort of reputable source of information now. You work for them. Thank you for making that crystal clear to all.”
And Musk himself also seemingly spoke out, stating Ocasio-Cortex had ‘just 100 percent lost her marbles’.
He added in response to another Twitter user’s comments: “The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
If you are the victim of an antisemitic incident or you have information regarding an antisemitic incident that happened to somebody else, contact the Stand With Us Number on 310 836 6140. In an emergency, always call 911.
Donald Trump explained he was ‘searching for somebody smarter’ to collaborate with him during his time in the White House before he ‘settled’ on the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
The POTUS made his admission during an interview with Fox News this week, when he was joined by Musk after it was revealed he had chosen the SpaceX CEO to work on the ‘department of government efficiency’ – otherwise known as DOGE.
Trump announced at the time that Musk would work from outside the government to offer ‘advice and guidance’, and ‘pave the way for [his] administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies’.
Now, Trump has opened up about how Musk came to land the role – and admitted he was looking for other candidates first.
During their interview with Fox, host Sean Hannity pointed out that Trump ‘might not like’ the fact that Musk is richer than him.
Trump quipped back by saying that was ‘why [he] became president’, before going on to talk about how he came to hire Musk.
Musk was hired amid the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
He said: “He’s great, you know I wanted to find somebody smarter than him. I searched all over, I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t find anyone smarter so we had – for the country. So we settled on this guy.”
Accepting Trump’s backhanded compliment, Musk responded: “Well thanks for having me. I’m just trying to be useful here.”
Trump’s admission comes as a court filing from the White House stated this week that Musk ‘has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself’.
In the declaration, filed by Joshua Fisher, the director of the White House’s Office of Administration, Musk’s title was listed as ‘senior adviser to the president’, Politico reports.
Earlier in the interview, Trump explained he wanted somebody ‘really smart’ to work with ‘in terms of the country’.
Trump claimed Musk was the ‘smartest’ he could find (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“He doesn’t talk about it – he’s actually a very good businessman,” Trump said of Musk, before suggesting that Musk helps ensure Trump’s executive orders get carried out.
Trump explained: “This is probably true for all presidents, you write an executive order and you think it’s done. You send it out, it doesn’t get done, it doesn’t get implemented […] what he does and he takes it, and with his 100 geniuses […] he gets it done.”
After Hannity questioned whether Musk was essentially Trump’s ‘tech support’, Trump then responded: “He’s much more than that.”
Footage of Elon Musk ‘abandoning’ his 4-year-old son goes viral but things aren’t what they seem
The SpaceX CEO was seen striding away from his child in footage thought to have been filmed at an event supporting Trump
This article has been updated to reflect additional information that has come to light about the video of Musk.
Elon Musk has been hit with backlash after footage at an event supporting Donald Trump appeared to show him striding off without his young son, X Æ A-Xii, though not all is what it seems.
The video has gone viral on social media as Trump and Musk continue to work together in the White House, where Musk has been named as a senior advisor to the president.
The SpaceX CEO has frequently welcomed his son, who goes by the nickname X, into his day-to-day as he dives in to the world of politics, recently bringing the young boy to hang out in the Oval Office while he and Trump spoke to reporters.
X made himself at home in the Oval Office (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images))
Some viewers were charmed to see X holding his own while in close company with the POTUS, but other viewers have now shared criticism towards Musk as he appeared to leave behind X at an earlier event.
The footage, believed to have been filmed in January, shows Musk descending a set of metal stairs and waving to fans once he reaches the bottom. X, who is just four years old, can be seen walking behind his dad, taking the wide steps more slowly as he grips on to both handrails.
A man in a suit, presumably a security guard, can be seen standing at the bottom of the stairs as X makes his way down, but Musk initially doesn’t appear willing to wait for his son as the video shows him striding away and disappearing off screen.
You can see the video here:
The so-called genius forgot his human shield son. What a loving father.
The camera then cuts back to show X continuing to make his way down the stairs.
As the video doesn’t show whether any other adults were accompanying X at the event, viewers have been left shocked by the sight with one saying the clip ‘legitimately disturbs—and saddens—’ them.
Other viewers described the video as ‘concerning’, with one writing: “As a father, I simply cannot understand this. I could be grocery shopping alone and will STILL habitually check below me and behind me. I can’t imagine that habit will go away anytime soon.. my sons 3. How old is Elons? [sic] 5?”
However, fresh video footage from the event has since emerged that debunks the theory that Musk ‘abandoned’ his son.
What a liar
The new footage shows Musk walking down another set of stairs while beckoning X to join him.
The father glances behind him to check the youngster is following along before waving at the crowd.
Musk then waits for the boy at the foot of the stairs and appears to be urging him along.
When X meets his father at the bottom, the pair triumphantly rejoice and the youngster skips alongside his dad as they continue walking.
Viewers were left concerned at X being left alone (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Other viewers also pointed out that the security at the event will have made it unlikely that X was ever completely unattended.
In response to the video, one person said of Musk’s parenting: “Why? He does it just right. He can do it and it helps the child to become independent and self-confident.”
