White House officials have confirmed that US President Donald Trump has fulfilled his promise to "rescue" NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who had been stranded in space for months.
The two astronauts returned to Earth early Wednesday morning, with their spacecraft landing off the coast of Florida at 3:27 a.m. (Indian time).
The White House posted the video of the spectacular scene on the social media site X, labeling it: *'NASA astronauts splashdown to Earth after nine months stuck in space.'*
"Promise made, promise kept: President Trump promised to save the astronauts trapped in space for nine months. Today, they landed safely in the Gulf of America, courtesy of Elon Musk, SpaceX, and NASA!" the message stated.
Williams and Wilmore had taken off aboard NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test on June 5 of last year for what had been an eight-day trip to the International Space Station. However, things became complicated when, on June 6, NASA and Boeing detected helium leaks and problems with the spacecraft's reaction control thrusters as their Starliner spacecraft came near the ISS. Consequently, the spacecraft had to come back to Earth empty, leaving the astronauts stranded on the ISS for far longer than expected.
By August, NASA assigned Williams and Wilmore to SpaceX's Crew-9 mission, where they were joined by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. After being in space for more than nine months, the Crew-9 crew finally returned to Earth on Wednesday.
The situation made political headlines earlier this year when, on January 28, President Trump made a public statement that he himself had asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to "go get" the two astronauts, blaming the Biden administration for ignoring their return.
Musk later shared details of the conversation on social media, stating that Trump had asked him to ensure the safe return of Williams and Wilmore, who had been aboard the ISS since June 2024. Musk expressed concern over the astronauts' extended stay in space, calling it "terrible" and criticizing the Biden administration for not acting sooner.
In spite of the growing controversy, NASA insisted during the nine-month duration that the astronauts were never "stranded." The agency assured the public that Williams and Wilmore were healthy and safe for their extended duration on board the ISS.
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