Washington: On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump revealed that he had asked Elon Musk’s SpaceX to fast-track the return of two NASA astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS). The astronauts, originally scheduled to return in March aboard a SpaceX capsule, have now been asked to return “as soon as possible”.
Earlier on Tuesday, Musk confirmed that Trump had made the request and stated that SpaceX would comply, saying, “We will do so.”
“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 wrote 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’s call for SpaceX to retrieve astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were already assigned a SpaceX ride home in August, marks an unusual intervention by a sitting U.S. president in NASA’s operations. The move caught many NASA officials off guard, according to two sources within the agency.
A spokesperson for NASA was contacted for a statement regarding the situation, but as of yet, there has been no response to the immediate inquiries made. The agency has yet to provide any clarification or further details on President Trump’s request for an expedited return of the astronauts from the International Space Station.
Wilmore and Williams were part of Boeing’s Starliner test mission to the ISS last summer. However, the mission, which was initially planned for eight days, has extended to nearly a year due to propulsion system issues with the Starliner. Following this, NASA decided that the Starliner was too risky for the astronauts’ return and opted for SpaceX to bring them home via a Crew Dragon spacecraft.
The Crew Dragon capsule is already docked at the ISS, having arrived during NASA’s Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission in September, with available seats for Wilmore and Williams. Originally scheduled to return in February, their departure was postponed to late March to allow SpaceX more time to prepare a new capsule for the upcoming Crew-10 mission.
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NASA’s ISS schedule is meticulously coordinated, and an early return could leave the U.S. crew under-staffed. It remains unclear whether Trump’s request would lead to an early return for Crew-9 or an acceleration of Crew-10’s launch.
If Crew-9 were returned before Crew-10’s arrival, it would leave NASA astronaut Don Pettit as the only American aboard the ISS. This would create an unusual staffing imbalance, which NASA has previously stated complicates the maintenance of the station’s U.S. components.
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Wilmore and Williams are currently part of a team of seven astronauts aboard the ISS, and NASA has confirmed that they remain in good health and are engaged in routine scientific research.
Despite persistent development issues with Boeing’s Starliner, which have been marked by engineering setbacks and cost overruns since 2019, some of Trump’s advisers have recently suggested placing blame on President Biden, even though Trump had no direct involvement in the Starliner’s development.
