NASA Astronauts Ordered to Return Quickly by President Donald Trump
Washington, January 29 – U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday night that he has instructed Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring back two NASA astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) as quickly as possible. These astronauts were originally scheduled to return in March aboard a SpaceX capsule.
Earlier on Tuesday, Musk stated that Trump had asked him to bring the astronauts back "as soon as possible," which is faster than NASA's current plans. "We’ll do it," Musk said. Trump tweeted, "I told Elon Musk and @SpaceX, ‘Go, bring back the two brave astronauts who were almost stranded in space by the Biden administration.’"
Trump claimed that NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were scheduled to return in March via SpaceX but have been on the ISS for nearly a year. Wilmore and Williams had originally traveled to the ISS last summer aboard Boeing’s Starliner as part of an eight-day test mission, but power issues with the Starliner extended their stay to nearly a year.
This was an unusual intervention by President Trump in NASA operations, which left many officials surprised. However, NASA has yet to make any official comment on the matter.
