It's a story that's caught the attention of the world and is almost certainly destined to become a Netflix documentary. The lives of NASA astronauts Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore have gripped us all, with the pair being marooned on the International Space Station since June 2024. Despite Williams insisting we shouldn't say they're 'stranded', the pair have long overstayed their welcome considering their original mission was only supposed to take eight days.
While the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission ended up taking 93 days, that was only to bring back the unmanned craft to Earth. Instead, Williams and Wilmore have been subjected to 258 days in space, with a few more until they'll be back on terra firma.
The pair are due to be rescued by the incoming Crew-10 launch, which is scheduled to blast off on March 12. NASA has moved its schedule forward in an attempt to get the stuck astronauts back a little sooner.
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Despite calls from Donald Trump to get Elon Musk to launch a rescue mission, NASA insists that the earlier launch date is nothing to do with pressures from external sources. Elon Musk has now spoken out about the whole situation and said Williams and Wilmore were left up in the stars for 'political reasons'. Speaking to Fox News in a joint interview with President Trump, Musk mused: "At the — at the president’s request, we — or instruction, we are accelerating the return of the astronauts, which was postponed, kind of, to a ridiculous degree."
When it was pointed out how long they've been up there, Trump interjected and blamed former President Joe Biden, while Musk continued: "They were left up there for political reasons, which is not good."
Looking at the mission ahead, the SpaceX CEO continued: "Well, we don’t want to be complacent, but we have brought astronauts back from the space station many times before, and always with success. So, as long as we’re not complacent."
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Although Musk said they now have the go-ahead to launch, he reiterated, "We’re being extremely cautious."
Trump again interjected to add: "They didn’t have the go-ahead with Biden...He was going to leave him in space. I think he was going to leave them in space...He didn’t want the publicity. Can you believe it?"
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In January 2025, Trump took to his Truth Social platform and wrote: "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!!!"
While Williams and Wilmore have a few more weeks to wait, we're sure they're counting down the days on their ISS space calendars - especially given their unexpected pay packets.