If you thought NASA had already figured out how to bring stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore back home, think again. The two astronauts have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for way longer than planned, and now, Donald Trump has called in his bestie, Elon Musk, to save the day. What’s the plan? We have no idea yet—but it’s happening.
Why are the Stranded Astronauts Still in Space?
Williams and Wilmore were originally supposed to take a quick eight-day trip on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June 2024. Simple enough, right? Well, not really.
- Read also: NASA Astronauts Stuck in Space Say There are ‘Strange Noises’ Coming from Starliner Capsule
After some major technical failures—helium leaks, thruster issues, and just overall bad luck—their return flight got scrapped. Boeing sent the Starliner back to Earth in September 2024, but, um, without them.
So, they’ve just been staying on the ISS for over nine months now, waiting for NASA to sort things out. The current plan was to have them back in late March or even April 2025, but that wasn’t fast enough for some people. And by “some people,” we mean Donald Trump.
Trump and Musk: The Rescue Mission
On January 28, 2025, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce that he had personally asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to handle the situation. In classic Trump fashion, his post read:
“I have just asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to ‘go get’ the two brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration. Good luck Elon!!!”
Musk, never one to shy away from a big moment, quickly confirmed on X that SpaceX would indeed take charge of the rescue.
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
NASA had already planned for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to bring them back when the next crew arrives at the ISS in March, but now, it looks like Musk might be trying to speed things up.
Of course, the drama didn’t stop there. Users on X had a lot to say about the situation, with some pointing out how political it all felt. One viral comment read:
“They hated you more than they wanted to rescue those astronauts. Awful.”
To which Musk, always keeping it short and sweet, simply replied:
“True.”
So, will Elon and Trump actually speed up the return of these astronauts? Or is this just another round of internet theatrics?
