U.S. President Donald Trump urged SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday to bring home two NASA astronauts who have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since last June.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed the astronauts, Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore, had been "virtually abandoned in space by the Biden administration" and had been waiting "for many months."
"I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to 'go get' the two 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!!!"
Two stranded astronauts were already scheduled to fly back on a SpaceX capsule in March.
Musk posted on X that Trump had requested SpaceX to bring astronauts home "as soon as possible."
"We will do so," he added.
His demand that SpaceX retrieve veteran NASA astronauts, who have been assigned a SpaceX ride home since August, was an unusual intervention by a U.S. president into NASA's operations that caught many agency officials by surprise, two officials said, according to a Reuters report.
NASA, SpaceX and the White House did not immediately comment on the reports.
Wilmore and Williams flew Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the ISS last summer for an eight-day test mission that instead has lasted nearly a year because of problems with the craft's propulsion system.
During President Joe Biden's administration in August, NASA deemed Starliner too risky to return to Earth and tapped SpaceX to return them on a Crew Dragon spacecraft.
NASA reportedly planned for their return by February but revised the timeline in December, with a new target for their return set for late March, alongside two other astronauts currently aboard the ISS.
Their extended stay followed a malfunction in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which delayed their return. Despite the extended mission, NASA assures that the astronauts are in good health and that their time in orbit remains within acceptable limits.
Returning to the White House, Trump has appointed Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a commission created on the president’s first day in office, aiming to eliminate wasteful spending.
