Space Station rescue: another AP tale of "facts"

quote:

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Already capturing the world’s attention, their unexpectedly long mission took a political twist when President Donald Trump and SpaceX’s Elon Musk vowed earlier this year to accelerate the astronauts’ return and blamed the former administration for stalling it.

Retired Navy captains who have lived at the space station before, Wilmore and Williams have repeatedly stressed that they support the decisions made by their NASA bosses since last summer.

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A casual read of the AP's account of the coming rescue would have one believing a pat narrative that is basically pro-Biden and anti-Trump/Musk.

LINK

Moving on to the NYP:

quote:

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One of the NASA astronauts trapped on the International Space Station said he believes Elon Musk’s claim that the Biden administration rejected the SpaceX CEO’s offer to help bring the team home.

Barry “Butch” Wilmore made the comment Tuesday during an in-orbit press conference with fellow castaway Sunita Williams nine months after their Boeing Starliner capsule malfunctioned and left the pair stuck on the ISS.

One questioner asked about Musk’s recent claim that former President Joe Biden had intentionally stalled their rescue for “political reasons.”

In an earlier question, Wilmore denied that politics had anything to do with the team’s delayed departure, but he seemed to shift his stance when answering the later question.

“I can only say that Mr. Musk, what he says, is absolutely factual … I believe him,” he said.

“All of us have the utmost respect for Mr. Musk, and obviously, respect and admiration for our president of the United States, Donald Trump. We appreciate them. We appreciate all that they do for us, for human space flight, for our nation,” Williams said.

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Hmm. That sure sounds like helpful context that was completely absent in the AP story.

NYP

And as an always fun reminder - since you were NEVER reminded of this in 2024 when it was going on, but the Vice-President (KAMALA) is actually the Chair of the National Space Council. With anyone competent or at all interested, the stranded astronauts would have been a serious area of focus - especially during an election year.

But since we don't actually have a media, I would guess the median American voter (even those paying attention) literally had no idea of any of this.

Instead, it's now spun after the fact (the "fact" being that Musk is going to ultimately provide the rescue) as if somehow the astronauts are pro-Biden.

Just another small example of why trust in everything is gone.