Starliner commander says politics played no role in crew's extended stay in space

Starliner commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore said Tuesday he did not think politics played any role in the crew's extended mission, but he did not directly address earlier comments by President Trump and Elon Musk that the crew had been "abandoned" in space by the Biden administration.

"Obviously, we've heard some of these different things that have been said," Wilmore said during an orbital news conference. "I can tell you at the outset, all of us have the utmost respect for Mr. Musk and obviously, respect and admiration for our president of the United States, Donald Trump."

"The words they've said, politics, I mean, that's part of life. We understand that. And there's an important reason why we have a political system and the political system that we do have, and we're behind it 100%."

Space station commander Nick Hague, center, flanked by Starliner commander Butch Wilmore (left) and pilot Sunita Williams (right) during an orbital news conference Tuesday.NASA

Wilmore and Starliner pilot Sunita Williams said in earlier comments that they didn't feel stranded or abandoned. But again on Tuesday, the crew took multiple questions about what some see as the intrusion of politics on their mission.

"From my standpoint, politics is not playing into this at all," Wilmore said. "We came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short. That's what we do in human space flight. That's what your nation's human space flight program is all about, planning for unknown, unexpected contingencies. And we did that."

Wilmore and Williams, both former military test pilots, launched to the International Space Station on June 5 last year aboard a Boeing Starliner crew ferry ship for a mission that was expected to last about eight days.

The Starliner docked at the outpost the day after launch, but the ship ran into multiple problems with its propulsion system during its approach to the lab.

In mid August, after a detailed engineering analysis, Boeing managers argued the problems were well understood and could be safely managed during the crew's return to Earth. But NASA managers disagreed and eventually decided to bring the Starliner back to Earth by remote control, without its crew, in early September.

To minimize the disruption to the station's crew rotation schedule and on-going research, NASA opted to bump two astronauts from the next SpaceX Crew Dragon flight and to launch that mission, known as Crew 9, in late September with just two crew members on board. That left two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams.

The Crew 9 mission was initially expected to end this month, but the flight was extended to late March because of issues preparing a new Crew Dragon for launch, sources said. NASA later decided to use a different Crew Dragon, clearing the way for Crew 9 to undock and head for Earth around March 19.

The four Crew 9 fliers inside the Crew Dragon that will carry them back to Earth around March 19. Left to right: Starliner pilot Sunita Williams, cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, commander Nick Hague and Starliner commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore. NASA

On Jan. 28, President Trump blamed the Biden administration for the Starliner crew's extended stay in space, saying he had asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to "go get" the two "brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden administration."

"They have been waiting for many months on @Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Hours before the president's post, Musk said on his social media platform X that Mr. Trump had asked SpaceX to get the Starliner astronauts home as soon as possible, adding, "We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long."

Musk later said he offered to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth earlier, but he said his offer was turned down because "they did not want positive press for someone who supported Trump. That's it. End of story."

Wilmore described the SpaceX CEO as "absolutely factual." But he added that the crew had no knowledge of such an offer.

"We have no information on that, though ... what was offered, what was not offered, who it was offered to, how that processes went," Wilmore told a reporter Tuesday. "That's information that we simply don't have."

"So I believe him. I don't know all those details, and I don't think any of us really can give you the answer that maybe you would be hoping for."

NASA plans to operate the ISS through 2030. In another recent post on X, Musk said the station should be brought down earlier: "It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the @Space_Station. It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let's go to Mars."

When asked by tech and science news outlet Ars Technica to clarify, Musk responded on X by saying "the decision is up to the president, but my recommendation is as soon as possible. I recommend 2 years from now."

Williams said he disagreed.

"This place is ticking, it's just really amazing," she said of the station. "So I would say we're actually in our prime right now. We've got all the power, all of the facilities up and operating. So I would think that right now is probably not the right time to call it quits."

Given that the ISS is operated by NASA and multiple partner nations, the Starliner pilot said they should make the most out of it for taxpayers and international partners and "hold our obligations and do that world-class science that this laboratory is capable of."

If all goes well, Crew 10 commander Anne McClain, pilot Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will blast off and head for the space station on March 12.

Once on board, Crew 9 commander Nick Hague, cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, Wilmore and Williams will help their replacements settle in before undocking and returning to Earth around March 19.