Despite Trump’s claims that the Starliner astronauts were “abandoned”, a plan was in place to return Williams and Wilmore before he took office. In September 2024, NASA chose to launch its Crew-9 mission with two astronauts instead of four. This was so Williams and Wilmore could return at the end of Crew-9’s regular rotation in February.

NASA Asronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore, who are to return to earth after being stranded in space for over nine months, expressed gratitude for SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have shared a video of NASA's two stuck astronauts—which included one thanking the pair—ahead of their return to Earth. They shared the clip from earlier this month on their social media accounts as a SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday,