Trump Asks Elon Musk to Retrieve NASA Astronauts from International Space Station

Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been on the International Space Station (ISS) since June last year.

FILE PHOTO: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams pose for a picture at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, ahead of Boeing's Starliner-1 Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., June 5, 2024. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

President Donald Trump said on Jan. 28 that he has asked billionaire businessman and SpaceX founder Elon Musk to help return two NASA astronauts who have been on board the International Space Station (ISS) for months.

NASA tapped Musk’s SpaceX in August 2024, to return the pair on a Crew Dragon spacecraft. That craft is already docked with the space station, having flown there for NASA’s Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission in September 2024 with empty seats for the two astronauts. After delays, the mission to return them had been slated for late March.

In a statement on social media platform X, Musk confirmed Trump has asked his space technology firm to bring the two astronauts home as soon as possible.

“We will do so,” Musk wrote.

Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday: “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.”

“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 was referring to astronauts Sunita Williams, 59, and Butch Wilmore, 61, who were launched into space on June 5, 2024, to conduct station research, maintenance, system testing, and data analysis.

The mission was initially expected to last just over a week or two but was later extended after the Boeing Starliner capsule they arrived on was deemed unfit to return them to Earth. NASA decided to return the Starliner spacecraft empty after the discovery of helium leaks and issues with the craft’s control thrusters.

Williams and Wilmore were set to return to Earth in February during a handover alongside astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, both of whom arrived at the ISS in September 2024.

That mission was delayed until late March after SpaceX and NASA said they needed more time to complete the processing of a new Crew Dragon capsule that was set to arrive at the company’s processing facility in Florida in early January.

“The agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will return to Earth following the arrival of Crew-10 to the orbital laboratory,” NASA said in a December statement.

Despite the unplanned extension to their mission, NASA has insisted that Williams and Wilmore are in good health and that their time in orbit falls within acceptable limits.

“All NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station undergo routine medical evaluations, have dedicated flight surgeons monitoring them, and are in good health,” the agency said in a statement provided to media outlets in November last year.

The Epoch Times has contacted a NASA spokesperson for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.