The Facts Behind the Delayed Return of U.S. Astronauts

The return of astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore after an extended stay on the International Space Station has been the subject of competing claims about the actions of the Trump and Biden administrations in bringing them home.

White House adviser Elon Musk, whose SpaceX company aided the astronauts’ return, said he had offered last year to bring the two astronauts home much sooner but the Biden administration declined for “political reasons.” NASA and space experts, including the two astronauts themselves, dispute that the decision was based on politics.

In a press conference on March 4, NASA officials said safety, budget concerns about a separate mission to retrieve the astronauts and a desire to keep a crew on the space station were the reasons driving the decision to have Williams and Wilmore return with a SpaceX crew, which is expected to land on Earth today.