As Sunita Williams returns, White House blames Joe Biden admin's ‘lack of urgency’ for 286-day stay in space
ByHT News Desk
Mar 20, 2025 06:17 AM IST
The US White House said Donald Trump looks forward to welcoming Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to the Oval Office once they are medically fit.
Hours after Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore returned to Earth after spending 286 days on the International Space Station, the White House blamed the previous Joe Biden administration's lack of urgency for the extended stay of the NASA Crew-9 astronauts that was originally planned for a week.
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams shows her thumb as she safely returned to Earth with her colleagues after an unexpected 286-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), in Florida on Wednesday. (Nasa Astronauts - X)
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams shows her thumb as she safely returned to Earth with her colleagues after an unexpected 286-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), in Florida on Wednesday. (Nasa Astronauts - X)
US White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during her press briefing on Wednesday (local time), said the rescue of Sunita Williams, Nick Hague, Butch Wilmore, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov was a historic mission under US President Donald Trump.
“This historic mission brings new meaning to President Trump's promise to always look out for the forgotten man and woman,” Karoline Leavitt said.
Criticising the Joe Biden administration, Leavitt said, “Because of the Biden administration's lack of urgency, they (astronauts) ended up spending nine months in space. Joe Biden's lack of courage to act boldly and decisively was a big reason why Butch and Sunita did not make it back until yesterday. But President Trump doesn't waste time. Immediately, after taking office, President Trump directed Elon Musk and SpaceX to rescue these brave astronauts alongside NASA,” she said.
Leavitt added that Donald Trump personally called the NASA chief and Elon Musk to prioritise the mission to bring the astronauts back. The US White House press secretary said the president looks forward to welcoming them to the Oval Office once they are medically fit.
“The President also called the acting administrator of NASA and told her to bring the astronauts home as soon as possible. As acting administrator Janet Petro said yesterday, as per President Trump's direction, NASA and SpaceX worked diligently to pull the schedule a month earlier. The president looks forward to welcoming Butch and Sunita to the Oval Office when they are recovered,” she said.
‘We offered to bring back astronauts earlier’: Elon Musk
In an interview with Fox News, Elon Musk claimed that SpaceX offered the Joe Biden's administration to bring back the two astronauts earlier, but it was “rejected for political reasons”.
"We definitely offered to return the astronauts earlier. There is no question about that. The astronauts were only supposed to be there for eight days and they have been there for almost 10 months. Obvioulsy, that doesn't make any sense. SpaceX could have brought the astronauts after a few months at most and we made that offer to Biden administration. It was rejected for political reasons and that's just a fact," he said.
Back on Earth
An eight-day mission for Sunita Williams to the ISS turned out to be a challenge of a lifetime as problems cropped up on her Boeing space flight that stretched her stay in orbit to over nine months.
Williams and Wilmore bid farewell to the ISS, their home since last June, departing aboard a SpaceX capsule alongside two other astronauts.
The capsule undocked from the space station on Tuesday and splashed down off the Florida coast on Wednesday morning after clocking 286 days in space. This was Williams' third space flight and she has clocked a cumulative 608 days in space.
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