The president has claimed the previous administration abandoned the astronauts and has called on Elon Musk for aid.

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is already scheduled to return the astronauts under a plan announced by NASA in August.

Soon after U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, and the slew of executive orders that followed, claims ( archived) circulated that space agency NASA was shutting down its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been aboard the ISS for over 8 months—far beyond their planned stay. Initially set to return via Boeing's Starliner, technical failures forced NASA to turn to SpaceX for their return.

In a post on X Tuesday, Musk blamed former president Biden and his administration for the delay in the astronauts' return.

Donald Trump asks Elon Musk's SpaceX to bring back stranded Nasa astronauts from International Space Station - US president says he has asked Elon Musk for help to return stranded astronauts ‘as soon

On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump issued a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, who ran the dark web marketplace Silk Road under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Ulbricht has been serving a life sentence without parole since 2015, when he was convicted of multiple charges, including the distribution of narcotics.

US President Donald Trump has criticized the Biden administration for "abandoning" two NASA astronauts currently stranded on the International Space Station.

Donald Trump has tasked billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring back stranded NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore from the International Space Station. For all the latest world news, analysis and updates,

President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social that he's asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to retrieve two astronauts he says were "abandoned" by former President Joe Biden on the International Space Station.

"NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions," Cheryl Warner, NASA's news chief at the agency's headquarters, said in a statement to reporters.