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On January 28, 2025, Trump accused his predecessor, the Biden administration, of virtually abandoning “two brave astronauts” in space.
Trump’s post on his social media platform, Truth Social, was about Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams. Both astronauts have been stranded on ISS (International Space Station) since June 2024. However, contrary to Trump’s allegations, they haven’t been abandoned in space by the Biden Administration or NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration).
NASA has consistently shared updates around the return of Williams and Wilmore from ISS, who were initially scheduled to return with the Boeing Starliner. Later, it was announced that SpaceX Crew-9 would bring back both astronauts to the Earth.
In September 2024, Crew-9 was launched with a two-person crew. It is currently docked to the ISS and is scheduled to return in March 2025 due to a delay in Crew-10’s launch.
Although the Astronauts are already scheduled to return as part of SpaceX’s four-person crewed flight, Trump has seemingly asked Musk to accelerate the process.
Trump asked SpaceX CEO and founder Elon to “go get” Williams and Wilmore from ISS
Apart from his claims against the Biden administration, the 47th President asked the SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, to “go get” the stranded crew on the ISS. Here's what the POTUS (president of the United States) wrote on Truth Social,
“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!!!”
Responding to the statement, Elon Musk also used his platform, X, to assure to speed up the process,
“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.”
As of January 2025, Wilmore and Williams have been stuck on the ISS for over six months. They were a part of the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission, which commenced on June 5, 2024, with the takeoff of Starliner. The spacecraft docked to the International Space Station on June 6, while the mission was scheduled to conclude in almost a week.
However, Starliner’s thrusters malfunctioned (due to helium leaks) during the mission, which left the crew stranded on the ISS. It further delayed the launch of SpaceX Crew-9, which was initially slated to take off in mid-August with a four-person crew onboard. Ultimately, Starliner returned uncrewed in September, as NASA decided against the onboarding of Williams and Wilmore to avoid any risks.
On September 28, 2024, SpaceX Crew-9 launched with a two-membered crew instead of four, leaving two seats vacant for the stranded astronauts. According to NASA's initial plans, Crew-9 was expected to return in February 2025.
The delays around SpaceX Crew-10’s launch pushed the return date to March. Thus, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore are expected to return almost nine months after staying on the ISS.
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Although the original mission was barely eight days long, the average length for an astronaut for ISS missions or expeditions is about six months (182 days). Furthermore, astronauts like Wilmore and Williams undergo training for extended stays, while NASA is also equipped with backup plans, reported BBC.
The astronauts have carried on with their tasks, as Sunita Williams spacewalked for the eighth time in January 2025. Her most recent spacewalk lasted six hours, which brought her overall time to 56 hours and 40 minutes across eight spacewalks. She is currently at the 11th spot among the most experienced spacewalkers. The list is topped by cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev with 82 hours and 22 minutes.
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