Will Sunita Williams Return From Space Soon? Trump Seeks Elon Musk's Help For Her Return

NASA in December announced that SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is now targeting no earlier than late March 2025 for its launch.

Williams and Wilmore were only supposed to be in the International Space Station for eight days.

Source : PTI

Science News: US President Donald Trump has asked billionaire Elon Musk to facilitate the return of two Boeing Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded on the space station since June 5, 2024. Williams and Wilmore were only supposed to be in the International Space Station for eight days but have been stranded in space for months due to a fault with Boeing's spacecraft. 

Musk said he felt "terrible" that the Joe Bien administration "left" them in space so long.

"The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so," Musk said in a post on X. "Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long," he added.

The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so.

Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2025

NASA in December announced that SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is now targeting no earlier than late March 2025 for its launch. With the launch previously scheduled for February, the delay gives NASA and SpaceX additional time to finalise preparations for a new Dragon spacecraft that will be used for the mission, the agency said in a statement.

The revised timeline also means that the return of Crew-9 to Earth, originally planned for early 2025, will be further delayed. Williams, who is the commander of the space station, will remain in space even longer, extending her mission as part of Expedition 72.

Williams and Wilmore have been on an extended mission ever since, with the duration of their stay stretching to over nine months if they return late March — and more, if the Crew-10 launch is adjusted again.

The two astronauts, along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, are to be brought back by the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that is taking the Crew-10 members to ISS.