NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (R) and Suni Williams, wearing Boeing spacesuits, depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center for Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to board the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test launch, on June 5, 2024. (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images)
OAN Staff Blake Wolf 1:51 PM – Wednesday, January 29, 2025
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced his intention to get Elon Musk to speed up the return of the two NASA astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station for around eight months. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck in space since last June, in a mission that was only meant to last a week.
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Problems with the Starliners, Boeing’s first capsule spacecraft, have not allowed for the astronauts to return to earth safely.
“I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to ‘go get’ the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration. They have been waiting for many months on @Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.
I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to “go get” the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration. They have been waiting for many months on Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 29, 2025
Musk responded to Trump’s request in an X post stating “The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so.”
“Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long,” Musk added.
The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so.
Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.
Previous rescue missions were slated for February, before NASA announced that it needed more time to work on the capsule to send Crew-10, estimating that the launch would be ready in March.
NASA normally has at least one crew on the space station for an easier transition.
“NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 now is targeting no earlier than late March 2025 to launch four crew members to the International Space Station,” the agency stated in a press release. “The agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will return to Earth following the arrival of Crew-10 to the orbital laboratory.”
Meanwhile, the stranded crew has kept their cool, stating that they do not feel “stranded” in space as they have trained for long term missions.
“We have plenty of clothes,” Wilmore stated. “We are well fed.”
“It’s just been a joy to be working up here,” Williams stated. “It doesn’t feel like we’re castaways. Eventually we want to go home, because we left our families a little while ago, but we have a lot to do while we’re up here.”
“I’ve been up here long enough right now I’ve been trying to remember what it’s like to walk,” Williams added. “I haven’t walked. I haven’t sat down. I haven’t laid down. You don’t have to. You can just close your eyes and float where you are right here.”
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