NASA astronauts Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore surely didn't think they'd still be on the International Space Station this long when they left Earth in June. In fact, they initially expected to stay for just eight days.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck on the ISS since June 2024 after arriving on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft as part of the Crew Flight Test mission. NASA decided that they would come home on Dragon after " uncertainties " surrounding Starliner.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, announced on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump had requested his assistance in expediting the return of astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore from the International Space Station (ISS).

At the time of writing, Williams and ISS crewmate, Nick Hague, are conducting NASA’s first spacewalk in over a year. The pair are scheduled to spend roughly 6.5 hours in the vacuum of space, where they will work on a number of long overdue external repairs and equipment assessments.

Despite the statement from President Trump, NASA had already scheduled the astronauts' return for late March or April.

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social Tuesday evening, vowing vow to bring the NASA pilots home after being stranded in space since the summer.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday night he had asked Elon Musk's SpaceX to return two NASA astronauts from the International Space Station, who were already scheduled to fly back on a SpaceX capsule in March.