One NASA astronaut trapped in the International Space Station said he believes Elon Musk's claim that he rejected SpaceX CEO's offer to help the Biden administration bring the team home.
Barry “Butch” Willmore commented Tuesday at an orbital press conference with fellow Castaway Snita Williams nine months after the Boeing Star Liner capsule malfunctioned, locking the pair in the ISS.
One questioner asked Musk's recent claim that former President Joe Biden intentionally halted rescue for “political reasons.”
In previous questions, Wilmore denied that politics had something to do with the team's late departure, but he seemed to change his attitude when answering later questions.
“I can only say that Mr Musk is absolutely true… I believe in him,” he said.
SpaceX launched a crew dragon capsule to save the pair last September, but after docking it to the space station, NASA chose to stop returning.
Musk, who donated $288 million to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, told Fox News' Sean Hannity that working with him to get the astronaut back made Trump “looking” and that Biden “didn't want to promote.”
Wilmore said he trusted the mask, but added that he and Williams knew nothing about the closed Dooras debate over their rescue.
“But there's absolutely no information about it. What was provided, what wasn't provided, who was provided, how the process went. That's information we simply don't have,” he said.
Wilmore also expressed his support for both the new president and the wealthiest man in the world.
“We all have the utmost respect for Musk, and clearly we respect and admiration for US President Donald Trump. We thank them. We are grateful for everything they do for us, for human spaceflight, for our nation,” Williams said.
Comments came two weeks before Willmore and Williams returned to Earth late.
The pair also raised questions about Musk's recent statement on X that the international community should remove the ISS from orbit “as soon as possible” and devote its resources to reaching Mars.
At that point, they disagreed with the billionaire.
“I was really impressed to see how much science is going on,” Williams said. “This place is ticking by. It's really amazing. So I think we're actually at our Prime right now. …I'm not sure I'm the right time to stop doing that.”
