President Donald Trump urged SpaceX to bring back two NASA astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) sooner than scheduled. On Truth Social, Trump claimed astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were “abandoned” by the Biden administration and asked Elon Musk’s company to retrieve them immediately.
Wilmore and Williams flew to the ISS last summer on Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft for an eight-day test mission, which has stretched to nearly a year due to propulsion system issues. In August, NASA deemed Starliner too risky for their return and assigned them to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, already docked at the station.
NASA had originally planned for their return in February but postponed it to late March to accommodate the processing of a new Crew Dragon capsule for the upcoming Crew-10 mission. Trump’s demand could disrupt NASA’s carefully planned ISS schedule, possibly leaving only one U.S. astronaut aboard the station temporarily.
Elon Musk confirmed Trump’s request, saying, “We will do so.” However, NASA has not commented on whether it will adjust its current timeline. The agency maintains that Wilmore and Williams are healthy and engaged in research.
Trump’s intervention is an unusual move for a former president, especially regarding NASA’s operations. While Starliner has faced engineering issues since 2019, some Trump advisers have recently tried to pin the blame on Biden, despite the spacecraft’s development occurring largely during Trump’s presidency.
It remains unclear if Crew-9 will return early or if Crew-10’s launch will be expedited. NASA officials were reportedly caught off guard by Trump’s announcement.
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