Musk posts a silly tweet saying Trump wants SpaceX to rescue the Starliner astronauts and the press goes stupid again
Yesterday Elon Musk posted what appeared to be a completely silly tweet stating that Trump “has asked SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”
Since a Dragon capsule for bringing these astronaut back to Earth is already docked to ISS and is scheduled to return in April, there is nothing really new about Musk’s tweet. Moreover, that April return was delayed an extra two months because of SpaceX, not Boeing or Biden. The company had requested that extra time to prepare the next crew capsule for launch, because it is a new capsule never used before.
It is of course possible that Trump requested SpaceX and NASA to reconsider this extra two month delay, and move the crew return back to February, but that change would either require SpaceX to find a different older capsule for the next crew, fly the new capsule sooner than planned, or have the total number of NASA astronauts on ISS reduced to just one until the new capsule launches with the new crew in March. None of these options seems wise.
I suspect nothing will change, and Musk was merely trolling the press. And the press mostly fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.
- Florida Today: Elon Musk says Trump told SpaceX to bring Starliner astronauts home as soon as possible
- Orlando Sentinal: Elon Musk says Trump calls on SpaceX to bring Starliner astronauts home ASAP
- Reuters: Trump, Musk suggest sped-up return of NASA astronauts, but details scarce
- CBS: Trump asks SpaceX to bring “abandoned” Starliner crew home, blames Biden administration for inaction
- New York Times: Elon Musk Suggests SpaceX Will Accelerate Return of NASA Astronauts
- Fox News: Trump, Musk join forces to bring stranded NASA astronauts back via SpaceX after Biden admin ‘abandoned’ them
- NY Post: Trump tasks Elon Musk, SpaceX to bring stranded NASA astronauts back after ‘Biden administration left them there so long”
- The Hill: Trump asks Musk to ‘go get’ NASA astronauts stuck in space
Most of these stories fail to outline the reasons for the most recent delays, having nothing to do with Biden. The last four especially make it sound as if SpaceX has suddenly been enlisted for a rescue mission, a claim that is utterly false.
None have been able to get any confirmation of any change of schedule from NASA or SpaceX, suggesting that Musk’s tweet was entirely blarney that a smart press would have ignored without that confirmation. Our stupid mainstream press however could not do that. It went whole hog based on nothing.
Until NASA announces a change in schedule there simply is no story here, and that’s what I am reporting.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Yesterday Elon Musk posted what appeared to be a completely silly tweet stating that Trump “has asked SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”
Since a Dragon capsule for bringing these astronaut back to Earth is already docked to ISS and is scheduled to return in April, there is nothing really new about Musk’s tweet. Moreover, that April return was delayed an extra two months because of SpaceX, not Boeing or Biden. The company had requested that extra time to prepare the next crew capsule for launch, because it is a new capsule never used before.
It is of course possible that Trump requested SpaceX and NASA to reconsider this extra two month delay, and move the crew return back to February, but that change would either require SpaceX to find a different older capsule for the next crew, fly the new capsule sooner than planned, or have the total number of NASA astronauts on ISS reduced to just one until the new capsule launches with the new crew in March. None of these options seems wise.
I suspect nothing will change, and Musk was merely trolling the press. And the press mostly fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.
- Florida Today: Elon Musk says Trump told SpaceX to bring Starliner astronauts home as soon as possible
- Orlando Sentinal: Elon Musk says Trump calls on SpaceX to bring Starliner astronauts home ASAP
- Reuters: Trump, Musk suggest sped-up return of NASA astronauts, but details scarce
- CBS: Trump asks SpaceX to bring “abandoned” Starliner crew home, blames Biden administration for inaction
- New York Times: Elon Musk Suggests SpaceX Will Accelerate Return of NASA Astronauts
- Fox News: Trump, Musk join forces to bring stranded NASA astronauts back via SpaceX after Biden admin ‘abandoned’ them
- NY Post: Trump tasks Elon Musk, SpaceX to bring stranded NASA astronauts back after ‘Biden administration left them there so long”
- The Hill: Trump asks Musk to ‘go get’ NASA astronauts stuck in space
Most of these stories fail to outline the reasons for the most recent delays, having nothing to do with Biden. The last four especially make it sound as if SpaceX has suddenly been enlisted for a rescue mission, a claim that is utterly false.
None have been able to get any confirmation of any change of schedule from NASA or SpaceX, suggesting that Musk’s tweet was entirely blarney that a smart press would have ignored without that confirmation. Our stupid mainstream press however could not do that. It went whole hog based on nothing.
Until NASA announces a change in schedule there simply is no story here, and that’s what I am reporting.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Perhaps just another red herring like I suspected Matt Gaetz was. Decoy the mainstream media off into a dead-end alley so that the real productive work can continue without the pearl-clutchers in the media gumming things up.
Since he added politics to his list of demonstrated core competencies, Elon’s press coverage has gone from “Gee whiz!” to “Hitler!!!” One should always be careful with idle jests around the terminally self-righteous who also totally lack senses of humor but I suspect Musk, being only human, has developed a taste for the occasional bit of bear-baiting these days. Or perhaps a better analogy would be to moving a laser pointer dot rapidly around the floor in a roomful of cats.
And how many in the Press are Smart 🤓?
That line must approach ZERO !!!
Alton–
Smart, like Fredo?!
Dick–
Yeah, laser-pointer…
I don’t think it was a smart tweet, no matter how 4d-chess it might be. Wish he hadn’t done it. YMMV.
And Bob seems to be proven right, as the latest update in this saga arrives this evening:
https://spacenews.com/nasa-rules-out-immediate-crew-9-return-saying-astronauts-will-come-back-as-soon-as-practical/
Maybe NASA might give itself a little cover with the boss by seeing if they can move Crew-10 up a few days. It’s not like they’ve announced an official date yet anyway.
Steve,
Whenever I have wondered if the Matt Gaetz nomination was a red herring or some other form of gamesmanship, I have reminded myself of the fact that Gaetz resigned from Congress in order to pursue the position. Unless the resignation itself was actually desired by Gaetz for some unknown reason, and he had asked Trump to give him this “cover” for it, I see the Gaetz nomination as being real, but a failure.
I’d say the second choice, Pam Bondi, is a much better one, given her actual job experience and temperament.
“Elon Musk posted what appeared to be a completely silly tweet”
Weaponized Autism
https://surl.li/ulvboq
Well, he DID in fact set up the Dragon to bring those stranded people back home since the Boeing ship was so questionable! I didn’t see anywhere that the request was yesterday! I do believe Mr. Musk is enjoying his trolling of the corrupt media. BUT, we have bigger fish to fry so let’s move on and when those two castaways make it home we’ll be thankful they’re safe and home!
Robert wrote: “None have been able to get any confirmation of any change of schedule from NASA or SpaceX, suggesting that Musk’s tweet was entirely blarney that a smart press would have ignored without that confirmation. Our stupid mainstream press however could not do that. It went whole hog based on nothing.”
Back in the 1990s there were fact checkers at news media outlets that made sure that reports of this type were avoided. Back then, these kinds of reports would have been very embarrassing, so fact checkers really did check facts, not that the article fit some preset narrative. Something has changed in a quarter century. Perhaps the news outlets don’t mind being embarrassed or they no longer feel embarrassed.
Edward
It takes a sense of shame to be embarrassed. And shame implies a common code of good and bad behavior. I think we’ve seen that common code badly eroded in the last quarter century, and longer, often for crass political pursuits of the Left. These are the results.
The Musk bashing gets old—but the “Orange Rocket Bad” types set my teeth on edge as well.
While New Spacers bash Orion, here and there we can see some respect given to those with experience:
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-fly-nasa-orion-spacecraft.html