President Donald Trump took to social media this week to announce he had directed SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to “go get” two NASA astronauts who have been on a protracted stay at the International Space Station after their Boeing Starliner mission, which launched in June and was expected to last about eight days, ran into multiple technical issues.
The vice president leading Boeing's Starliner spacecraft unit, Mark Nappi, has left the troubled program and was replaced by the company's International Space Station program manager, John Mulholland,
NASA's two stuck astronauts are taking their first spacewalk together, exiting the International Space Station almost eight months after moving in.
The astronauts who traveled to the International Space Station aboard the Boeing Starliner are in good health, a NASA spokesperson has said, dismissing fake online reports of their death. The false narrative also includes false quotes attributed to Elon Musk.
NASA's two stranded astronauts conducted their first spacewalk together Thursday, stepping outside the International Space Station.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Elon Musk put out a message on X saying that President Donald Trump had asked him to return the two Boeing Starliner astronauts who have been on the space station since June as soon as possible.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams flew to the ISS in the summer of 2024 for a routine eight-day test mission. However, due to problems with the propulsion system of Boeing’s Starliner capsule,
As for the spacewalk itself, if you’d like to watch along with the event, it will be livestreamed on NASA’s streaming service, NASA+. Coverage begins at 6:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, with the spacewalk itself beginning at 8 a.m. ET.
The president has claimed the previous administration abandoned the astronauts and has called on Elon Musk for aid.
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore conducted a spacewalk after being unexpectedly stuck at the International Space Station for nearly eight months. Their return was delayed due to issues with Boeing's Starliner.
A spokesperson with NASA, which oversees SpaceX’s flights to the ISS, said “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.”