On Sunday, Elon Musk criticized former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly for his comments on the use of Starlink in Ukraine with their war against Russia.
Recently, SpaceX announced that Ukraine cannot use Starlink for military purposes and has taken measures to enforce this restriction.
In a tweet, Kelly asked Musk to restore full access to Starlink for Ukraine, but SpaceX has only limited the use of Starlink for military purposes, while still allowing commercial use.
Scott Kelly, former NASA Astronaut and US Navy Captain, Tweeted telling Musk: “Ukraine desperately needs your continued support. Please restore the full functionality of your Starlink satellites. Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. It’s survival. Innocent lives will be lost. You can help. Thank you.”
Musk clapped back and said the following:
“You’re smart enough not to swallow media & other propaganda bs. Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other Internet connectivity has been destroyed. But we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.”
In a separate Tweet, Musk said the following: “SpaceX commercial terminals, like other commercial products, are meant for private use, not military, but we have not exercised our right to turn them off. We’re trying hard to do the right thing, where the “right thing” is an extremely difficult moral question.”
SEE BELOW:
You’re smart enough not to swallow media & other propaganda bs.
Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other Internet connectivity has been destroyed.
But we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 12, 2023
Previously, Musk had tweeted that Starlink is solely for peaceful purposes and recently announced that the company would prohibit its use in long-range drone strikes. According to SpaceX’s COO Gwynne Shotwell, the company had not intended for Starlink to be weaponized in the war, and the Ukrainians had unintentionally leveraged it in ways outside any agreement.
In response, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted on Thursday, urging SpaceX to take a side and support either Kyiv or Russia in the war.