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Stranded NASA Astronaut Barry Butch" Wilmore's Daughter Breaks Silence
President Donald Trump has another message for the NASA astronauts.
As Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Willmore remain in space after an eight-day mission last June went awry, the president shared a some words of encouragement to the NASA astronauts 21 months into their time on the International Space Station.
"We love you and we're coming up to get you, and you shouldn't have been up there so long," he said in a C-Span broadcast, via Forbes. “We're gonna get them out.”
Trump also shared that he asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, also the head of his new Department of Government Efficiency, to retrieve them from space as a “favor” adding, "Elon is right now preparing a ship to go up and get them."
As Trump put it, "I said, 'Are you equipped to get them?' He said, 'Yes,' He's got a starship and they're preparing it right now. So, Elon is going to go up and get them."
Trump added that Musk, whose space tech company is behind the craft set to retrieve the astronauts, "is preparing to go up in two weeks," falling in line with the timeline previously shared by the astronauts to CNN, where they said they’d return to Earth around March 19.
Amid his address, the president also shared a few lighthearted comments about the situation.
"They've been left up there, I hope they like each other,” he joked. “Maybe they’ll love each other, I don’t know.”
And while Trump also joked about getting on the ship and taking the journey himself, he concluded, "When they come back, I'll greet them, how about that."
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Trump had previously commented on the debacle, noting in a February Truth Social post that Williams and Wilmore had been “virtually abandoned.”
However, the astronauts pushed back on the claim, with Williams telling CNN's Anderson Cooper in a Feb. 13 interview regarding their extended time on the ISS, as “pretty darn good.”
For more information on the situation, read on.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
June 2024
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore launched into space on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft June 5, 2024, with plans to stay at the International Space Station for eight days. Shortly after their launch, the astronauts reported a “stable and isolated leak” in their propulsion-related plumbing, per the Associated Press.
While the leak remained stable throughout their travel to the ISS, four more leaks emerged and five thrusters—devices used for acceleration—failed. They were able to safely dock at the ISS, with the understanding that their mission would likely last longer than eight days.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
August 2024
Two months after their faulty launch, NASA came forward with the debacle of the two astronauts stuck in space. At the time, the space organization was still trying to determine whether the Starliner would be fit for a return to space, and Boeing maintained at the time it should have been, with the company telling E! News in a statement, “If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return.”
Meanwhile, former NASA official Scott Hubbard quelled public concern over Wilmore and Williams’ predicament, telling the Associated Press the astronauts—who
have each been to space before on prior missions—are only “kind of stuck,” emphasizing that they have “plenty of supplies and work to do.”
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
August 2024
After NASA confirmed that Williams and Wilmore would return to Earth on a SpaceX mission in February or March, rather than attempting to fix the Starliner, their families spoke out.
Wilmore’s wife Deanna Wilmore told WVLT in August of her family’s predicament, “You just sort of have to roll with it and expect the unexpected."
Meanwhile, Williams’ husband Michael shared that he didn’t think his wife would be unsettled by spending more time in space, telling The Wall Street Journal, “That's her happy place.”
Nasa/UPI/Shutterstock
November 2024
Just before celebrating six months in space, Williams and Wilmore shared insight into their Thanksgiving celebrations aboard the ISS.
“We have a bunch of food that we’ve packed away that is Thanksgiving-ish,” Wiliams told NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt from the ISS on Nov. 27. “Some smoked turkey, some cranberry, apple cobbler, green beans and mushrooms and mashed potatoes.”
Williams also reiterated that she and Wilmore were doing just fine amid their extended stay in space.
“People are worried about us, really, don’t worry about us,” she added. “We’re feeling good, working out, eating right. We have a lot of fun up here, too.”
Manoj Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
December 2024
After the astronauts celebrated six months in space, NASA confirmed they would be staying even longer than previously thought. Although the organization had originally planned for the duo to return in February, delays in the SpaceX mission that would retrieve them led their stay to be extended to March or April, NASA said at the time.
(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
February 2024
In February, President Donald Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that Williams and Wilmore had been “virtually abandoned” in space amid their eight-day-turned-eight-month journey. However, following the headline-making comment, the astronauts pushed back on the president’s claim.
“We don't feel abandoned,” Wilmore insisted to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in a Feb. 13 interview. "We don't feel stuck. We don't feel stranded. We come prepared. We come committed.”
Williams interjected during the interview that the pair were “doing pretty darn good, actually.”
“We've got food, we've got clothes, we have great crew members up here,” she continued. “Of course, it was a little bit longer stay than we had expected, but both of us have trained to live and work on the International Space Station and I think we've made the most of it.”
During the interview, Wilmore and Williams also confirmed they’d be returning to Earth when SpaceX launches its Dragon capsule March 12.
“They'll come here, rendezvous and dock," Wilmore explained. “We'll do a turnover for about a week and we will return on or about the 19th of March.”
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
March 2024
Just days before her father was set to return, Wilmore’s daughter Daryn Wilmore spoke out on her father’s time in space—and how she felt about the delays in his return to Earth.
“It’s a bit mentally exhausting,” she told the Daily Mail in a March 6 interview. “There's been issues. There's been negligence. And that's the reason why this has just kept getting delayed. There's just been issue after issue after issue.”
Daryn expressed that her father was “bummed,” but otherwise doing well on the ISS, adding, “My dad is very resilient.”
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