SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has claimed that the Biden administration deliberately blocked the return of NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore from the International Space Station (ISS), despite his company’s offer of a rescue mission months earlier.
Musk shared a post on microblogging site X saying that now the President Donald Trump intervened, pushing for their immediate return.
“The astronauts were only supposed to be up there for 8 days and now have been there for 8 months. SpaceX could have sent up another Dragon and brought them home 6 months ago, but the Biden White House (not NASA) refused to allow it. President Trump asked to bring them back as soon as possible and we are doing so,” the post read.
The astronauts were only supposed to be up there for 8 days and now have been there for 8 months.
SpaceX could have sent up another Dragon and brought them home 6 months ago, but the Biden White House (not NASA) refused to allow it.
President Trump asked to bring them back as… https://t.co/BVsHRn2Ocf
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2025