Donald Trump asks Elon Musk's SpaceX to bring back stranded Nasa astronauts from International Space Station
Donald Trump asks Elon Musk's SpaceX to bring back stranded Nasa astronauts from International Space Station
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Donald Trump has asked Elon Musk’s SpaceX to return two stranded Nasa astronauts from the International Space Station “as soon as possible”. The two American astronauts were left stuck in space when their Boeing Starliner craft developed a fault during a test mission in June last year.
Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams were already due to return back on a SpaceX capsule in March, but the US president said he had asked Musk to speed up that return. "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 his Truth Social platform.
“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!!!”. Musk said SpaceX would “do so”. 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.
Nasa then deemed Starliner too risky to bring them back to Earth and asked SpaceX to return them 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 with empty seats for Wilmore and Williams.
