Written by Nathan Phillips.
On February 18, 2025, the prolonged ordeal of U.S. astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for over eight months, took a sharp political turn during a Fox News interview. President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk suggested that the delay in their return stemmed from political maneuvering by the Biden administration, not just technical setbacks. For Americans tracking this space saga, their comments cast a new light on a mission that ballooned from eight days to nearly 300, raising questions about leadership and accountability beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
The Prolonged ISS Stay Explained
Wilmore and Williams launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule in June 2024, expecting a brief test mission. However, persistent safety flaws—leaking valves, thruster malfunctions—forced NASA to deem the craft unfit for their return, sending it back to Earth empty in September. Stranded since, the astronauts have relied on the ISS’s resources, with NASA initially planning their rescue via SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft for late February 2025. That timeline has now shifted to mid-March, a delay Musk and Trump seized upon in their critique.
The technical issues alone don’t tell the full story, they argued. During the Fox News segment hosted by Sean Hannity, Musk asserted that SpaceX was “accelerating the return of the astronauts” at Trump’s behest, implying a deliberate stall under Biden. “The move was postponed kind of to a ridiculous degree,” Musk stated, before Trump interjected, “They got left in space.” This narrative suggests a political calculus—avoiding a SpaceX triumph under Biden’s watch—kept the pair aloft longer than necessary.
For a factory worker in Florida near Cape Canaveral, this might hit close to home. The space industry fuels jobs and pride, yet here’s a tale of two astronauts—veterans of multiple missions—seemingly caught in a Washington power play. Their extended stay, now approaching 300 days, starkly contrasts with the planned week-long trip, amplifying the stakes of this debate.
Trump and Musk Point to Biden’s Inaction
Trump doubled down, pinning the blame squarely on his predecessor. “Biden,” he said simply when Hannity noted the mission’s duration, later adding, “They didn’t have the go-ahead with Biden. He was going to leave them in space.” His accusation frames Biden as indifferent—or worse, spiteful—unwilling to greenlight a SpaceX rescue that would spotlight Musk, a frequent Biden critic. “He didn’t want the publicity,” Trump mused, suggesting optics trumped urgency.
Musk echoed this, claiming the astronauts were “left up there for political reasons, which is not good.” He contrasted this with SpaceX’s track record, noting, “We’ve brought astronauts back from the space station many times before, and always with success.” Since 2020, SpaceX has ferried crews to and from the ISS under NASA contracts, a reliability Trump now leverages to cast Biden’s delay as reckless. The subtext is clear: political rivalry, not capability, prolonged the astronauts’ predicament.
This theory hinges on timing. Biden’s term ended January 20, 2025, yet the return wasn’t scheduled until after Trump took office—a gap Musk and Trump attribute to reluctance to hand SpaceX a win. Whether NASA’s leadership, under Biden, slow-walked the process remains unproven, but the charge fits Trump’s broader narrative of reclaiming control from a faltering predecessor.
Astronauts’ Perspective and the Bigger Picture
Amid the finger-pointing, Wilmore and Williams have maintained a stoic front. In comments reported by Forbes, Wilmore said, “We don’t feel abandoned. We don’t feel stuck. We don’t feel stranded.” He emphasized their preparedness and commitment, a stance Williams has mirrored in past updates. These seasoned astronauts—Wilmore a Navy test pilot, Williams a record-setting spacewalker—project resilience, likely shielding NASA from public criticism despite their extended ordeal.
Yet, their words can’t address the political machinations Trump and Musk allege. Stationed 250 miles above Earth, they lack insight into White House-NASA dynamics. Their mission, initially a Boeing showcase, morphed into a SpaceX lifeline after Starliner’s woes—a shift that, per Trump, Biden resisted to avoid amplifying Musk’s success. Now, with Trump’s “go-ahead,” Dragon’s mid-March launch aims to bring them home, roughly four weeks from the interview date.
The saga underscores broader stakes. Space exploration, once a unifying endeavor, now reflects terrestrial divides. For a teacher in Ohio showing students ISS live feeds, the astronauts’ plight might spark curiosity about how policy shapes science. Musk’s jab at Biden’s “ridiculous” delay and Trump’s blunt “he was going to leave them” accusation elevate this from a logistical hiccup to a symbol of administrative failure—or triumph, depending on perspective.
Our Take
Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s assertion that political gamesmanship left Wilmore and Williams stranded taps into a potent mix of frustration and ambition. Their claim—that Biden stalled a SpaceX rescue to deny Musk a victory—carries weight if one buys the premise of a pettiness-driven White House. SpaceX’s proven reliability lends credence to the idea that an earlier return was feasible, making the 300-day delay a glaring anomaly. Trump’s swift directive to bring them back casts him as decisive, a contrast that could resonate with Americans tired of bureaucratic drift.
Yet, the narrative demands scrutiny. Technical setbacks with Starliner, not just politics, dictated the timeline—NASA’s caution reflects safety, not spite. The astronauts’ own denials of abandonment, while noble, don’t disprove behind-the-scenes delays, but nor do Trump and Musk offer hard evidence beyond inference. This feels like a political jab dressed as a rescue mission—effective rhetoric, but thin on proof. The real win lies in their safe return, not the finger-pointing; anything less risks turning a human story into a partisan prop.
