US President Donald Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk are spreading false information about the situation regarding the Boeing Starliner astronauts who are forced to stay on the ISS. In an interview with Fox News, they said Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were “stranded” on an orbital outpost and needed to be rescued, blaming previous President Joe Biden.
In a transcript of the interview released by the White House, Trump said that Biden did not permit the astronauts to be brought back, and he personally gave SpaceX the “green light” for the rescue mission. “I think he was going to leave them in space,” Trump stated.
Misinformation
However, this information is not true. NASA made the decision back in August to return Williams and Wilmore along with the crew of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. The mission, which was launched on September 28, was originally supposed to include four astronauts flying to the ISS. But the list was cut to two to make space for Williams and Wilmore on the return route. Due to the delay in launching the next mission, the return has been postponed until April.
That’s where the “rescue” plan from Trump and Musk comes in. Crew-9 was supposed to leave the ISS at the end of February. But problems with the launch of the Crew-10 mission forced Crew-9, along with Williams and Wilmore, to postpone their return until early April. At Trump’s order, NASA made revised plans with the launch of the next missions so that the four astronauts would return to Earth on March 19. As it turns out, the so-called “rescue” is just an earlier return by a couple weeks.
Musk said SpaceX was “accelerating” the return of astronauts who were “left behind for political reasons.” However, NASA noted that politics did not influence the decision-making, and the priority was safety.
Musk and Trump’s motives
Musk and Trump have their own interests in making a scandal out of virtually nothing. Musk’s SpaceX is a direct competitor to Boeing in spaceflight, and Trump tries to discredit Biden. In late January, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that he had ordered Musk to “leave and take” the astronauts.
The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2025
Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.
The Starliner mission faced serious problems. Williams and Wilmore were only supposed to spend eight days on the ISS after the June 5 launch, but a malfunction in the propulsion system and a helium leak delayed their return. As a result, NASA decided to return the capsule without a crew to avoid risks.
The Starliner capsule returned to Earth on September 7, and the astronauts remained on the ISS, where they performed standard NASA tasks. Despite being officially integrated into the crew, the situation was another blow to Boeing’s reputation. The Starliner program has suffered from budget overruns and delays, and according to the latest SEC filing, it has cost $2 billion more than originally estimated. NASA has already put future Starliner missions on hold.
Interestingly, Musk’s companies receive more than $22 billion in government contracts, and the oversight of potential conflicts of interest seems to fall to Musk himself.
Earlier we reported on how Boeing was looking for buyers for the failed Starliner.
According to spacenews.com
