Washington, DC [US], March 8 (HBTV): US President Donald Trump has said he has authorised Elon Musk to bring back American astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded at the International Space Station since June 2024.

Speaking to media persons at the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said, ‘We love you (astronauts), and we're coming up to get you, and you shouldn't have been up there so long. The most incompetent President in our history has allowed that to happen to you, but this President won't let that happen. We're going to get them out. We're coming up to get you. I've authorized Elon, because, you know, they've been left up there. I hope they like each other. But they've been — maybe they'll love each other. I don't know. They've been left up there.’

Speaking about Sunita Williams, Trump said, ‘And I see the woman with the wild hair, good, solid head of hair she's got. There's no kidding. There's no games with her hair. But, and you know, there's a danger up there, too. They can have some failures up there. That would be very bad. You've got to get them out. So I've authorized Elon a week ago. I said, you know, we have two people up there that Biden and Kamala left up there. And he knows it very well. I said, are you equipped to get him? He (Elon) said, yeah, he's got a starship. And they're preparing it right now.’

Trump added that he would personally greet the astronauts upon their return. ‘Well, when they come back, I'll greet them. How about that? No, no, we're going to get them out. I've authorized Elon Musk to go and get them. And he's prepared to do so.’

The two astronauts have been stranded since June 2024 when an issue was found with Boeing's Starliner capsule, which returned without them, The New York Post reported.

According to The New York Post, Musk's SpaceX launched a Crew Dragon capsule in September to rescue the pair, and it docked at the space station. However, NASA opted to stall its return.

NASA stated in December that the astronauts would have to wait for another SpaceX rescue vehicle to arrive with replacement scientists ‘no earlier than late March,’ and would then undergo an unspecified handover period before finally departing.

(ANI)