Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been in low-Earth orbit since June aboard the International Space Station (ISS), want to clear up a big misconception—they are not stranded, and they have not been abandoned.
The two NASA astronauts launched on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft for its first crewed test flight, knowing from the start that their mission might face challenges. Now, as misinformation circulates, they’re speaking up about their extended stay in space and setting the facts straight.
“Prepared and Committed”—Not Stranded
In a recent interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Williams and Wilmore responded to claims made by former President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who suggested that they had been “left high and dry” by the current administration.
“That’s been the rhetoric. That’s been the narrative from day one: stranded, abandoned, stuck—and I get it. We both get it,” Wilmore said. “But that is, again, not what our human spaceflight program is about. We don’t feel abandoned, we don’t feel stuck, we don’t feel stranded.”
Wilmore then made a request:
“If you’ll help us change the rhetoric, help us change the narrative. Let’s change it to ‘prepared and committed.’ That’s what we prefer.”
Williams echoed that sentiment, emphasizing that both astronauts always knew this was a test flight and were prepared for any unexpected delays.
“Butch and I knew this was a test flight,” she told CNN, adding that they expected to find issues with Starliner and weren’t surprised when they did. “We knew that we would probably find some things (wrong with Starliner) and we found some stuff, and so that was not a surprise.”
Musk and Trump’s Claims vs. NASA’s Reality
In January, Elon Musk claimed on social media that the astronauts were “stranded” and said Trump had asked SpaceX to rescue them.
“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 posted. “Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”
Trump also made similar claims on Truth Social, writing that Williams and Wilmore were “virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration.”
However, NASA had already planned their return long before Musk and Trump spoke out. Back in August—months before these statements—NASA had arranged for SpaceX to bring them home as part of its Crew-9 mission.
In December, NASA announced a slight delay in the departure, explaining that extra time was needed to prepare a new SpaceX vehicle for their return.
NASA’s Plan to Bring Them Home
Despite the controversy, NASA confirmed that Williams and Wilmore are coming home soon. The agency recently announced that they may even return earlier than expected.
NASA is now using a different SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule for the Crew-10 mission, which will replace Williams, Wilmore, and their fellow crew members—NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. This mission is set to launch as soon as March 12, pending mission readiness.
While Trump’s comments suggested presidential involvement in the astronauts’ return, NASA made no indication that the schedule change was due to any directive from him. In reality, space station crew rotations are carefully planned by NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency responsible for managing half of the ISS.
The Crew-10 mission will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to replace the outgoing team.
Why Williams and Wilmore Stayed Longer
Williams and Wilmore arrived on the ISS in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. But their return was postponed after NASA and Boeing discovered propulsion issues and gas leaks on the spacecraft. After extensive testing, NASA determined that Starliner was too risky to use for their trip home.
Originally expected to stay for just a week, the two astronauts instead joined the official space station crew and became part of its regular staff rotation. They are now set to return on SpaceX’s Crew-9 capsule, the Crew Dragon Freedom, which arrived at the ISS in September with two empty seats reserved just for them.
With the Crew-10 launch date now confirmed, Williams and Wilmore’s return is actually ahead of schedule, as NASA had initially planned for late March.
Mission Ready, Not Stranded
Williams and Wilmore’s extended stay might not have gone exactly as planned, but it’s far from an emergency. The two astronauts were fully prepared for any scenario, and NASA had contingency plans in place long before the public debate began.
Rather than being abandoned, they’re simply doing their job—and soon, they’ll be safely back on Earth.