NASA’s latest space launch: Stranded astronauts and messy politics
Later today, a SpaceX capsule is scheduled to carry four astronauts to the International Space Station. Their arrival will clear the way for two astronauts that have been labeled as “stranded” to finally return to Earth.
The astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were supposed to spend about a week on the space station when they went up last June. But they remained on the ISS after the experimental Boeing capsule they took into orbit malfunctioned.
In the past month, President Trump and his close adviser Elon Musk have repeatedly claimed that the decision to leave Williams and Wilmore in space was politically motivated.
“Biden was embarrassed by what happened, and he said ‘Leave them up there,'” Trump said during a press availability in the Oval Office on March 6. “Elon is right now preparing a ship to go up and get them.”
But some former astronauts and NASA officials have denied any political motives behind the extended stay of Williams and Wilmore. Here’s what to know about how they ended up on the station and why they’re finally coming home now.
Today’s launch is not, strictly speaking, a rescue mission
The SpaceX Dragon capsule heading to the station tonight is carrying the new crew for the station into orbit, but it’s not actually going to be the capsule that brings Williams and Wilmore home.
The capsule the duo will use to return to Earth has been attached to the space station since September of last year. That capsule, also built by SpaceX, arrived carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, and has two extra seats for Williams and Wilmore.
It could have also returned the astronauts at any point in the past six months or so.
“They had a SpaceX Dragon there as an emergency lifeboat, to bring them back at any time they needed to,” says former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly.
Instead of coming back immediately, Williams and Wilmore were fully integrated into the crew of Expedition 72 aboard the space station. Williams became the station commander in September and both she and Wilmore have worked conducting experiments and spacewalks during their time there.
Musk and Trump have pushed the theory that Williams and Wilmore are stuck for political reasons, but former astronauts and NASA officials deny that claim.
President Trump appears to have first made the claim that the astronauts were stranded for political reasons on Jan. 28.
“I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to ‘go get’ the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration,” the president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Terrible that the Biden administration has left them there so long,” Musk posted the same day on his social media platform X.
The duo has elaborated on that claim several times since. Most notably during an interview with Sean Hannity in February:
“They got left in space,” Trump told Hannity.
“Yes, they were left up there for political reasons, which is not good,” Musk added.
After the interview, things quickly turned ugly on X when a former space station commander, Andreas Mogensen, called that claim “a lie.”
In his response, Musk called Mogenson an “idiot” and said he directly offered to return the astronauts earlier and was rebuffed by the Biden administration.
Former NASA officials have disputed that claim.
“I don’t know who he spoke to,” former NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy told Bloomberg in an interview. “It wasn’t [NASA administrator] Bill [Nelson], it wasn’t me. It wasn’t our senior leadership at headquarters.”
“It certainly did not come to my attention,” Nelson told the Washington Post. “There was no discussion of that whatsoever. Maybe he [Elon Musk] sent a message to some lower-level person.”
NASA says it had technical reasons for keeping Williams and Wilmore at the space station
Current NASA officials have been less confrontational, but they nevertheless cited multiple technical reasons for keeping Williams and Wilmore at the station.
“Our leadership at NASA was trying to make sure that we considered everything just at a technical level, and that’s what we did,” Ken Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations said during a press conference on Friday.
Bowersox and commercial crew program manager Steve Stitch cited cost and safety as the dominant reasons for keeping the two veteran astronauts aloft for longer than planned. Bowersox said that sending up an extra capsule, or returning a capsule early were “ruled out pretty quickly” due to budgetary concerns.
There were also technical issues caused by the decision to return the Boeing capsule Williams and Wilmore originally flew to space without them. When that capsule returned to Earth empty in August, Williams and Wilmore lost their seats—literally.
Stitch says that it was important to have the custom-fitted seats aboard their spacecraft to ensure that the two astronauts were not injured during re-entry and landing. New custom seats were installed on the Dragon capsule that arrived in September, ensuring a smooth return.
“When we laid all that out, the best option was really the one that we are embarking upon now,” Stitch said.
Williams and Wilmore appear happy to be coming home, but they’ve been doing fine in space
“Every day is interesting because we’re up in space and it’s a lot of fun,” Suni Williams said during a press conference from the ISS on March 4. “The hardest part is having the folks on the ground have to not know exactly when we’re coming back.”
Wilmore added that astronauts are well aware that any trip to space carries risks.
“The mission of the space station… is something that we deeply believe in,” added Wilmore. “It’s that belief that allows us to take those risks.”
Long-duration missions can be psychologically tricky, says former astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent 340 days aboard the space station. But he adds, he has no doubt that Williams and Wilmore have been able to handle it.
“They’re professionals,” says Kelly. “I’m pretty sure they’re not having too much of a problem with this.”
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