A mission that was supposed to last just over a week turned into a months-long ordeal for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. After their spacecraft suffered major technical failures, they remained stuck on the International Space Station, waiting for a return mission that took nearly a year to materialize.
Elon Musk now says their return could have happened much sooner, but the Biden administration rejected his company’s offer to bring them home. Speaking on Fox News, Musk explained that SpaceX had the ability to complete the rescue mission months ago, but political motives prevented it from happening.
#BREAKING : Elon Musk accuses biden of blocking SpaceX mission to bring Sunita Williams home.
"The astronauts were only supposed to be up there for 8 days and now have been there for 8 months," Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter). "SpaceX could have sent up another Dragon and… pic.twitter.com/yahqfhaFUh
— upuknews (@upuknews1) March 19, 2025
“The astronauts were only supposed to be there for eight days, and they’ve been there for almost 10 months,” Musk said. “SpaceX could have brought the astronauts back after a few months at most. And we made that offer to the Biden administration. It was rejected for political reasons, and that’s just a fact.”
Gracias al presidente Trump y a la cápsula espacial Crew Dragon de SpaceX, de Elon Musk, los astronautas que habían sido abandonados en el espacio por Biden durante nueve meses, ya están de regreso en casa. pic.twitter.com/h3i50EACSz
— James Nava (@JamesNavaCom) March 19, 2025
The astronauts originally launched on June 5, 2024, aboard Boeing’s Starliner, but multiple failures — including helium leaks and thruster malfunctions — made the spacecraft unsafe for reentry. Instead of approving SpaceX’s rescue plan, the administration left them waiting until the situation became critical.
Good morning !
Astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams are safely back on Earth after nine months in space, thanks to Elon Musk and his SpaceX team. While the Biden administration left them stranded, Elon stepped up and his Dragon Crew brought our heroes… pic.twitter.com/lfs3LceJN5
— Zelena✨WECKER (@wonamby) March 19, 2025
Trump directly criticized Biden for the prolonged delay, saying his administration had effectively abandoned the astronauts. Earlier this year, Trump announced that he had personally asked Musk to bring them home, calling SpaceX’s intervention necessary due to the White House’s inaction.
Never forget:
Joe Biden hates Elon Musk so much, he left 2 astronauts stranded on the ISS for 9 months, basically to die. #NASA Dragon landing! @SpaceX https://t.co/JY4IFI8Cu6
— Prof. Whitey McPriviledged 𝕏 (@WhiteBoySpicy) March 18, 2025
Eventually, the astronauts returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, splashing down off the Florida coast Tuesday evening alongside Crew-9 Commander Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
NASA’s Joel Montalbano declined to address Musk’s claim that Biden had blocked an earlier return, simply stating that the agency worked with the current administration to bring the astronauts home.
