In a very not surprising move, President Trump has apparently asked Elon Musk to “go get” the two astronauts “stranded” by NASA aboard the ISS since last year’s Boeing Starliner mission and bring them home, the SpaceX CEO shared on X. There’s just one problem with that—they aren’t stranded.
For starters, this isn’t surprising at all. We’ve all known that SpaceX would take a much stronger position in America’s space-based operations. And Elon sharing Trump’s post on X isn’t surprising, either. What may be surprising, though, is that Trump considers the astronauts stranded.
NASA has stated time and time again that they are not stranded. Yes, when Starliner first experienced its issues, it seemed like astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore had indeed been stranded aboard the station. However, there have been many developments since then to allow them to continue working aboard the ISS without issue.
Additionally, medical doctors have been keeping a close eye on their health. Astronauts train for long, extended stays in space. It’s an unfortunate possibility, and while NASA and Boeing both downplayed the issues with Starliner, a plan to bring these two home has been in place for months now.
In fact, NASA actually limited the size of the crew going up with SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission in late September to ensure Williams and Wilmore could come home without issue. So, the stranded astronauts have a way home; what’s the problem? Why not go ahead and have them come back like Trump wants?
Well, this is a two-fold issue. For starters, the launch of Crew-10—the replacement for Crew-9—has been delayed until March at the latest. This is unfortunate, but if Crew-9 were to return home now, or if Elon were to send up a new craft to get Williams and Wilmore, it would leave the U.S. side of the station understaffed.
That’s right. To make room for these stranded astronauts to come home, NASA had to leave two seats empty on Crew-9—two seats that would have been filled by astronauts who could stay aboard the ISS to conduct research and other operations. While NASA is close to retiring the ISS in the 2030s, the station is far from done with its work.
However, taking away Williams and Wilmore would leave just one astronaut aboard the station on the U.S. side. That means research would essentially grind to a halt, and that lone astronaut, Don Pettit, would have to carry out some pretty intensive duties alone—like getting a Northrop Grumman cargo spacecraft ready for departure.
Had this happened before NASA had a proper plan in place to bring them home, it would have made a lot more sense, and I’d be cheering Elon on. But considering there’s already a plan, and they’ve replaced two astronauts who were planned to go up with Crew-9 and are both perfectly healthy…, it would just be a huge disservice to both those astronauts and to American space operations.
Whether or not SpaceX goes through with Trump’s call to action remains to be seen. If Elon does make a push for it, though, it will leave the ISS in a very precarious position. Honestly, it might sound silly, but perhaps Elon and Trump should have a chat with Williams and Wilmore before making a decision. If they truly have been abandoned, they’d probably jump at the chance to come home early.
