Trump Urges Musk to Rescue Stranded Astronauts “`

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams’s space mission, initially planned for eight days, has unexpectedly extended to seven months.

President Donald Trump has called upon SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to retrieve NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS), where they’ve been stationed for nearly seven months instead of the planned eight days. Repeated technical issues have caused delays in their return to Earth.

Trump, in a Truth Social post, requested Musk to “go get” the astronauts, alleging they were “virtually abandoned” by the Biden administration. He predicted Musk’s swift action.

Musk subsequently confirmed on X that he’d been asked by the President to bring the astronauts home and pledged to do so, echoing Trump’s criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the situation. He also shared a screenshot of Trump’s post.

A NASA spokesperson acknowledged an inquiry regarding Musk’s statement and promised a follow-up.

Wilmore and Williams launched to the ISS aboard the Boeing Starliner on June 5th. Subsequent discovery of helium leaks and thruster issues led NASA to decide on August 24th to return the Starliner without its crew, leaving the astronauts on the ISS.

NASA later reassigned crew members from the Crew-9 mission to accommodate Wilmore and Williams, resulting in their extended stay. The Crew-10 launch was postponed to late March, pushing the Crew-9 return to early April.

Speculation points towards further delays for Crew-10, potentially leading SpaceX to utilize another Crew Dragon capsule, possibly the one slated for the Ax-4 private mission in April.

The astronauts have maintained a professional demeanor throughout, focusing on their daily tasks and not dwelling on aspects outside their control.