{"id":14840,"date":"2025-01-29T22:31:33","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T22:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/01\/29\/trump-orders-elon-musk-to-go-get-starliner-astronauts-despite-return-plan-national\/"},"modified":"2025-01-29T22:31:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T22:31:33","slug":"trump-orders-elon-musk-to-go-get-starliner-astronauts-despite-return-plan-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/01\/29\/trump-orders-elon-musk-to-go-get-starliner-astronauts-despite-return-plan-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump orders Elon Musk to \u2018go get\u2019 Starliner astronauts, despite return plan – National"},"content":{"rendered":"


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NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are still aboard the International Space Station, after their days-long work trip turned into a months-long staycation of sorts.<\/p>\n

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And while NASA has emphasized that the pair are not stranded, the President of the United States seems to think the opposite, suggesting he wants a quicker return for the crew, who are scheduled to return to Earth on March 20, and tapping his pal Elon Musk<\/a> to get it done sooner.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, Donald Trump<\/a> posted to his social media platform, Truth Social, announcing that he had asked Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX to return Williams and Wilmore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have just asked Elon Musk and Space X to \u2018go get\u2019 the two brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration,\u201d Trump posted.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey have been waiting for many months on Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

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On Wednesday, Musk shared a screengrab of the post to his own social platform, X, adding a salute emoji.<\/p>\n

He also shared a post of his own, writing \u201cWe will do so,\u201d in response to Trump\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

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The @POTUS<\/a> has asked @SpaceX<\/a> to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station<\/a> as soon as possible. We will do so.<\/p>\n

Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.
\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

The astronauts were left on the ISS because of problems with Boeing\u2019s Starliner capsule<\/a>, which led NASA in August to tap Musk\u2019s SpaceX for their return<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n

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Wilmore and Williams flew Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft to the ISS last summer for an eight-day test mission that, instead, has lasted almost a year because of problems with the craft\u2019s propulsion system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NASA in August, during Former President Joe Biden\u2019s administration, deemed Starliner too risky to bring them back to Earth and tapped SpaceX to return them on a Crew Dragon spacecraft<\/a>. Biden and his White House had no involvement in the agency\u2019s decision-making on the mission.<\/p>\n

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That craft is already docked with the space station, having flown there for NASA\u2019s Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission in September with empty seats for Wilmore and Williams. In a statement provided to Reuters, NASA said they are preparing the launch of the Crew-10 capsule<\/a>, whose crew will receive a handover from six Crew-9 astronauts before they return to Earth.<\/p>\n