Tech billionaire Elon Musk has pledged to facilitate the return of two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) after being approached by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Musk confirmed that SpaceX would handle the mission following technical setbacks and delays that prevented their original spacecraft from bringing them back.
“President Trump has asked us to bring them home, and we will do so,” Musk announced.
Trump blamed the Biden administration for the astronauts’ prolonged stay in space, claiming they had been “virtually abandoned” and wished Musk success in the rescue mission.
Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were initially on an eight-day mission launched on June 5, 2024, aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. However, technical failures, including helium leaks and malfunctioning thrusters, prevented their safe return.
Despite months of troubleshooting, neither NASA nor Boeing could resolve the issues, forcing NASA to delay their return from February 2025 to March or April.
With Boeing’s Starliner facing challenges, NASA has now turned to SpaceX, which will deploy a Dragon spacecraft to bring the astronauts back to Earth.
NASA has reassured the public that Williams and Wilmore are not in immediate danger, as the ISS remains well-stocked with supplies.
Both SpaceX and Boeing were awarded multi-billion-dollar contracts by NASA for commercial crewed missions. While SpaceX has successfully completed nine such flights, Boeing’s Starliner mission was their first—and now faces significant setbacks.
