Speaking during a pre-recorded interview with US President Donald Trump on Fox News, Mr Musk alleged the astronauts had been "left up there for political reasons" - a claim Mr Mogensen denounced as a "lie".
Mr Musk, who also leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory department under the Trump administration, said the astronauts' return had been "postponed to a ridiculous degree".
Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams, who have been on the ISS since June 2024, originally planned to go to space for just eight days but got stuck on the station after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft started experiencing problems.
File pic: Reuters ] The SpaceX CEO said he was working to "accelerate" the return of NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) at the president's "instruction".
Elon Musk has had a heated exchange with famed astronaut Andreas Mogensen who accused has him of lying over claims that two NASA astronauts had been "left" in space.
