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Comment by concordDance | Hacker News Reader

I've heard rumors that SpaceX suggested another mission to bring them back earlier, but as it would only have been a couple of months earlier NASA very sensibly declined (not worth >100 million to reduce their time in space by a third).

Know if there's anything to that?

Might explain some of the odd rhetoric.

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SpaceX offered to do it for free. Publicly.

When? Do you have a link?

Because the most recent delay was down to SpaceX. Their new dragon capsule was not ready on time to collect them, so they had to shift and replan for an older one.

"free".

Elon Musk offers a lot of things for free, and then turns out you have to pay anyway.

Like?

First example that comes to mind is Starlinks for Ukraine.

I thought some of those were still free. Do you have information to the contrary?

Edit: italicized

Per the Polish government, they’re paying $50M per year for Ukraines service.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy87vg38dnpo.amp

if $50m per year enough for the Starlink services needed in Ukraine?

no - it's a tiny fraction of the actual cost. so it's not "free" but it's massively subsidized to the point of being nearly free when it's a country paying for it

In a high-development high-capital low-marginal cost it's tricky to determine the "actual cost". The marginal cost is minimal. The opportunity cost is minimal too (not like the satellites over Ukraine could be providing connectivity for other congested areas).

You are going to have to do better than some tweet battle. AFAIU from Wikipedia with decent sources the service is free, but the terminal's not, and that is what Poland paid.

Also, it's not like Ukraine or even Poland has to pay, the can pay if they want, they can also not pay if they want. It's entirely elective. They can stop using any time they want. I heard that Google has a Starlink replacement in the works that is super awesome and I also heard that while Europe has completely killed itself with regulation they are entirely willing to buy things made by China which has absolutely no regulation.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russian-Ukrain...

> they can also not pay if they want. It's entirely elective.

even if they pay, he can supply it if he wants, or he can cut them off if it threatens to inconvenience Russia.

Doge

how much is he being paid for doge?

Billions

Cite?

he closed down all the government departments that had open cases on his contracts.

Not a citation.

it's really great that people like you take online discussions so seriously - here's the citation: https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2025.02....

I hope you read it carefully and we can have some intelligent conversation about the contents.

Does in no way show that Elon is being paid for DOGE.

he gets paid for the contracts he already has and for new ones (billions in corporate welfare). some government agencies tried to investigate his companies and contracts (which would cause a loss of handouts from the government), so he bought his way into the government and fired everybody who was investigating his companies.

does that help?

So then he is not getting paid for DOGE. Glad we cleared that up between us.

that's a cartoon level understanding of the world. thieves don't always wear a Zorro eye mask and carry a burlap sack with a dollar sign.

Didn’t he very publicly offer to fund fixing world hunger then ignored it when an NGO came up with an actual plan?

How much was he paid for fixing world hunger?

I assume you are referring to this: https://truthout.org/articles/musk-pledged-6b-to-solve-world...

As a response to this: https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/04/26/elon-musk-hunger/

He called them on some ridiculous claim that $10 billion could end world hunger. He said that if they could show him how, he'd donate the money.

Spoiler alert, they could not show him how.

back in reality, no, they said "address world hunger", not "solve". I know we are in a post-truth phase of the decline, but please, try do do your part.

Actually, they did use the word "solve", they just added "help" first. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/26/economy/musk-world-hunger...

Check the errata at the bottom.

You are lying.

"The Facts Behind the Delayed Return of U.S. Astronauts" - https://www.factcheck.org/2025/03/the-facts-behind-the-delay...

I wonder if you have read through this article yourself?

Yes. Did you? Since you are insisting, can you point to the part that supports your statement:

"SpaceX offered to do it for free. Publicly."

It will be kinder for you, to think you’re lying, than to suspect a deficit in judgment...

"Wilmore said he had no reason to doubt Musk’s claims about an offer to bring them home earlier"

"Ken Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations, said, “I think there may have been some conversations that I wasn’t part of.” But he said the option to fly a separate mission to the space station to retrieve the astronauts was “ruled out pretty quickly.”

First hand sources: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1892617681796264436 https://www.youtube.com/live/rCiNtismqg8?si=M8ZfF79yK9pwYJ1o

So your demonstration they offered to do it and publicly, is two NASA administrators saying there is no record or conversation of such public offer, a tweet, post event, from a pathological liar, capable to even lie, about the death of his own child...

https://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/1dxlopw/elo...

And an interview with the astronauts where no such offer is mentioned except by a Fox news presenter?

Uhau, just uhau....

I trust an actual Astronaut and an actual Engineer in Aerospace Engineering, and the first first pilot of a US spacecraft who was not a US citizen

https://x.com/Astro_Andreas/status/1892517170384392664

And the remainder of that quote:

> Wilmore said he had no reason to doubt Musk’s claims about an offer to bring them home earlier, though Wilmore said he was not privy to such an offer.

Which pretty much amounts to "I don't know, but I can't see why Musk would lie."

Musk lying...never :-)

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/elon-musk...

> I've heard rumors that SpaceX suggested another mission to bring them back earlier, but as it would only have been a couple of months earlier NASA very sensibly declined (not worth >100 million to reduce their time in space by a third).

I guess it came down to money more than politics? But interestingly that part is missing from reporting about this. Which, if true, reporters hiding that yet saying “let’s not make it political” are making it political. Which sadly is also not surprising.

It’s been widely reported since Musk attacked that Dutch astronaut but only in the sense that he claimed something with no evidence that it ever happened.

Ken Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations, said “I think there may have been some conversations that I wasn’t part of.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/04/starliner...

https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/nasa-spacex-c...

I can tell this is a polarizing comment because it's been bouncing back and forth from -1 to +5 repeatedlt, but I don't really understand why...

Maybe one of the downvoters can explain?

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