Astronauts returned! Musk saved Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams

Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are back on Earth after being stuck on the International Space Station for nine months. For their return, thank Elon Musk and SpaceX — and for the catastrophic delay, blame Biden-era dysfunction. The pair, who lifted off in June, were supposed to be on the ISS for just 10 days; they reached the station via the Boeing-made Starliner spacecraft (which set taxpayers back some $4.2 billion). The Starliner malfunctioned as it was approaching, and NASA decided the risks were too high to just let them go back on it. So began their months-long ordeal. That was a huge black eye for NASA and aerospace/defense mega-contractor Boeing, also embarrassed by a spate of extremely dangerous mid-air malfunctions in its commercial airliners.And once Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race in July and Vice President Kamala Harris became the nominee, it was clear that she would for as long as possible avoid denting her political prospects. After all, Harris chaired the National Space Council — the executive-level body tasked with helping drive overall space policy.  Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a valid email address.By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Never miss a story.So the screwup lay squarely in her lap, and taking any action (sending them home on the broken Starliner or speeding up a Musk step-in) meant exposing her already-weak presidential campaign to the risk of a space disaster.And reminding America she was asleep at the wheel. But Trump promised to bring them home, and Musk has just done so (proving, we suppose, that immigrants really will do the jobs Americans like Harris won’t). Musk’s thanks?A wave of vandalism targeting Tesla electric cars, including a website that reportedly reveals the names, addresses and phone numbers of Tesla owners.We live in an age of miracles �...