Musk chides Joe for SpaceX snub
Elon Musk took a swipe at President Biden after the commander in chief failed to acknowledge SpaceX’s completion of its first all-civilian mission, in which four amateur astronauts orbited Earth for three days.
One of Musk’s 60 million Twitter followers pointed out that the White House and Biden had yet to comment on the mission, which successfully returned to Earth Saturday evening.
“The President of the United States has refused to even acknowledge the 4 newest American astronauts who helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars for St. Jude,” user @rhensing wrote. “What’s your theory on why that is?”
“He’s still sleeping,” Musk responded Sunday afternoon.
As of Monday morning, the White House had yet to comment on the mission, dubbed Inspiration4, which marks the first time an allcivilian crew has ever made it to Earth’s orbit.
The crew — Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski and Dr. Sian Proctor — spent three days circling the planet at an altitude of more than 335 miles, about 75 miles higher than the International Space Station and on a level with the Hubble Space Telescope.
Isaacman, 38, an accomplished jet pilot, commanded the mission after reportedly paying $200 million for the privilege.
The billionaire donated two of the seats on the mission. The other went to Sembroski, who won a sweepstakes that raised $113 million in St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital donations.
The flight helped raise more than $200 million for St. Jude after a $50 million donation from Musk himself.
The Crew Dragon capsule that carried the quintet of astronauts splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Kennedy Space Center in Florida Saturday evening, shortly after 7 p.m. ET.
“On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home to planet Earth,” a dispatcher said to the crew on a livestream of the event.
“Your mission has shown the world that space is for all of us, and that everyday people can make extraordinary impacts on the world around them.”
Top officials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, including NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, congratulated those involved in the mission.