Elon to the Rescue Again: On His Way to Save Astronauts Biden Left Stranded 7 Months After 1-Week Mission Ended
Two astronauts whose few days in space turned into months could be home soon, according to some public comments from President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“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.
Musk later posted his can-do reply on X.
“The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible,” Musk posted.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2025
“We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long,” he wrote.
A community note indicated that the ride has been in the works for some time.
“Butch & Suni’s return was arranged with SpaceX in August last year,” the note said. “They will return via the SpaceX Crew-9 in February 2025, part of routine mission rotations, not an emergency. The delay aligns with the readiness of Crew Dragon C213 for the Crew-10 mission in March 2025.”
NASA later issued a statement indicating that it got Trump and Musk’s message, according to Reuters.
“NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expedition,” NASA said in a statement.
Also, they are both fine on this extended mission as they continue working on the ISS until their reassigned return on Dragon.
Proof of that is they are both conducting a spacewalk tomorrow. They wouldn’t be if there were a concern.https://t.co/3bUqc11htl
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) January 29, 2025
On June 5, a Boeing Starliner launched flight commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and flight pilot Sunita “Suni” Williams to the International Space Station.
Helium leaks and a thruster issue emerged to keep the Starliner in space.
Wilmore and Williams were initially expected to stay in space for eight days, but after concerns over the Starliner’s condition, they remained at the ISS, according to ABC.
The Starliner later returned to Earth without incident as ground-based controllers flew it with no people on board.
In August, according to the Associated Press, NASA said the plan would be to bring Wilmore and Williams back in February because no earlier trip would work.
In December, that was pushed back to late March, according to Reuters.
If the astronauts were to return on Feb. 24, that would be 264 days after their launch, which would represent a stay of 33 times the initial eight-day mission.
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