Trump urges Musk to ‘go get’ astronauts stranded in orbit
Trump is urging Musk to "go get" NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been on the Space Station for seven months. Read Full Article at RT.com.
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Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have spent seven months aboard the International Space Station, far exceeding their initially planned eight-day mission.
US President Donald Trump has reached out to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to expedite the return of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been in space for nearly 200 days due to delays attributed to technical challenges.
In a statement on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Trump remarked, “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.” He further noted that “Elon will soon be on his way.”
On the same day, Musk took to X to confirm, “@POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so.” He expressed his displeasure by adding, “Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”
Musk also shared a screenshot of Trump’s original message, including a saluting face emoji.
In response to Musk's comments, a NASA spokesperson acknowledged the inquiry, stating that the agency “will follow up as soon as we can.”
Wilmore and Williams originally launched to the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner on June 5. However, NASA engineers soon identified four helium leaks and issues with thruster pressurization. After a series of tests and discussions, NASA opted on August 24 to leave the astronauts on the space station and return the Starliner remotely.
To accommodate Wilmore and Williams, NASA later reassigned two astronauts initially designated for the Crew-9 mission, which includes NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, leading to an extension of their mission from eight days to over seven months.
In December, NASA announced that the Crew-10 launch would be delayed until late March to give SpaceX additional time to finalize a new spacecraft, which would likely push the Crew-9 return to early April. Speculation in the industry suggested there could be further delays for Crew-10, prompting SpaceX to potentially utilize another Crew Dragon, possibly for the upcoming Ax-4 private astronaut mission set for launch in April by Axiom Space.
Despite the extended duration of their mission, both astronauts have approached their situation with professionalism. “Things that I can’t control I’m not going to fret over,” Wilmore remarked during a September briefing. Williams added, “You sort of turn to and just take on the next activity of the day. That’s what we do. We’re professionals.”
Ramin Sohrabi for TROIB News
US President Donald Trump has reached out to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to expedite the return of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been in space for nearly 200 days due to delays attributed to technical challenges.
In a statement on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Trump remarked, “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.” He further noted that “Elon will soon be on his way.”
On the same day, Musk took to X to confirm, “@POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so.” He expressed his displeasure by adding, “Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”
Musk also shared a screenshot of Trump’s original message, including a saluting face emoji.
In response to Musk's comments, a NASA spokesperson acknowledged the inquiry, stating that the agency “will follow up as soon as we can.”
Wilmore and Williams originally launched to the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner on June 5. However, NASA engineers soon identified four helium leaks and issues with thruster pressurization. After a series of tests and discussions, NASA opted on August 24 to leave the astronauts on the space station and return the Starliner remotely.
To accommodate Wilmore and Williams, NASA later reassigned two astronauts initially designated for the Crew-9 mission, which includes NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, leading to an extension of their mission from eight days to over seven months.
In December, NASA announced that the Crew-10 launch would be delayed until late March to give SpaceX additional time to finalize a new spacecraft, which would likely push the Crew-9 return to early April. Speculation in the industry suggested there could be further delays for Crew-10, prompting SpaceX to potentially utilize another Crew Dragon, possibly for the upcoming Ax-4 private astronaut mission set for launch in April by Axiom Space.
Despite the extended duration of their mission, both astronauts have approached their situation with professionalism. “Things that I can’t control I’m not going to fret over,” Wilmore remarked during a September briefing. Williams added, “You sort of turn to and just take on the next activity of the day. That’s what we do. We’re professionals.”
Ramin Sohrabi for TROIB News
