Williams not only performed crucial tasks outside the ISS but also set a new spacewalking record for female astronauts.
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Sunita Williams Sets a Spacewalking Record During this spacewalk, Sunita Williams achieved a historic milestone by surpassing former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson’s record for the most spacewalking hours by a female astronaut.
With this spacewalk, Williams has now accumulated 62 hours and 6 minutes of spacewalking time, placing her fourth on NASA’s all-time list. This achievement was part of the 92nd U.S. spacewalk, further solidifying her status as one of the most experienced astronauts in extravehicular activities.
What Did Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore Do During Their Spacewalk?
During their spacewalk, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore performed important tasks outside the International Space Station (ISS), including:
Removing old equipment from the station’s exterior Collecting surface material samples from areas near the ISS’s life support system vents, particularly from the Destiny Laboratory and the Quest Airlock.
These samples will be analyzed to understand how space conditions affect the ISS over time, ensuring the station remains in optimal condition for future missions.
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NASA has revealed why the stranded astronauts had to spend nine months in space after an intended eight day mission.
vt.co
While some - including SpaceX CEO Elon Musk - suggested that politics delayed their return, NASA’s Associate Administrator Ken Bowersox offered a different explanation: "The SpaceX folks helped us with a lot of options for how we would bring Butch and Suni home on Dragon in a contingency," he said.
However, despite having multiple options, budget constraints ultimately limited NASA’s ability to bring them home sooner.
"We ruled them out pretty quickly just based on how much money we've got in our budget, and the importance of keeping crews on the International Space Station," Bowersox explained.
NASA emphasized that the best course of action was to delay their return until March 2025, ensuring a safe and coordinated mission with SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.
During their prolonged stay, Williams and Wilmore became integral members of the ISS crew, contributing over 900 hours to scientific research and completing 4,576 orbits around Earth.
NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Joel Montalbano praised their efforts, stating: "Suni and Butch did 150 experiments and 900 hours of research during their stint on the ISS."
Their work helped advance deep-space exploration and brought NASA closer to its goal of landing humans on Mars by the end of the decade.
There is no definitive, conclusive evidence from official sources that former President Joe Biden directly rejected a specific plan proposed by Elon Musk or SpaceX to rescue astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for an extended period. The situation is complex, and claims about Biden rejecting a rescue plan stem largely from statements by Musk and political figures like President Donald Trump, which lack independent verification from NASA or other primary sources involved in the decision-making process.
Here’s what is known based on available information:
Background: Wilmore and Williams launched to the ISS on June 5, 2024, aboard Boeing’s Starliner for a planned eight-day mission. Technical issues with the spacecraft, including helium leaks and thruster problems, led NASA to deem it unsafe for their return, extending their stay to over nine months. They returned to Earth on March 18, 2025, via a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule as part of the Crew-9 mission.
Musk’s Claims: Elon Musk has repeatedly asserted that SpaceX offered to bring the astronauts home earlier—potentially months sooner—and that the Biden administration rejected this offer for "political reasons." For example, in a February 2025 Fox News interview with Trump, Musk claimed the astronauts were "left up there for political reasons," and in a March 5, 2025, interview with Joe Rogan, he suggested the Biden administration delayed their return to avoid giving Trump or his allies a political win. Musk also posted on X that he "offered this directly to the Biden administration and they refused."
Astronauts’ Statements: During a March 4, 2025, press conference from the ISS, Butch Wilmore addressed Musk’s claims, saying, "I can only say that Mr. Musk, what he says, is absolutely factual … I believe him." However, he immediately qualified this by admitting he had no firsthand knowledge of any such offer or rejection, stating, "We have no information on that, though, whatsoever. What was offered, what was not offered, who it was offered to, how that process went. That’s information that we simply don’t have." This suggests Wilmore’s support for Musk’s claim was based on trust rather than evidence.
NASA’s Position: NASA officials, including former Administrator Bill Nelson and program managers like Ken Bowersox and Steve Stich, have consistently stated that the decision to delay the astronauts’ return was driven by technical, safety, and logistical considerations—not politics. In a March 7, 2025, teleconference, NASA explained that sending a dedicated rescue mission was ruled out due to budget constraints and the need to maintain adequate staffing on the ISS. The plan to return Wilmore and Williams with the Crew-9 mission (launched in September 2024 with two empty seats for them) was finalized in August 2024, well before Trump took office in January 2025. Nelson, who led NASA under Biden, told The Washington Post he was unaware of any direct offer from Musk to the administration, suggesting it never reached senior decision-makers.
Counterpoints: Critics, including former ISS commander Andreas Mogensen, have called Musk’s claims a "lie," pointing out that the astronauts’ return was always planned with Crew-9, and no separate "rescue ship" was needed. NASA’s timeline, though delayed by technical issues with the subsequent Crew-10 mission, aligns with operational norms for crew rotations, not political interference. No official documentation or White House statement has surfaced to confirm Musk’s assertion of a direct rejection.
Political Narrative: Trump and his administration amplified Musk’s claims, with Trump stating on Truth Social in January 2025 that he asked Musk to "go get" the astronauts "abandoned" by Biden, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claiming on March 19, 2025, that Biden lacked "urgency." However, these statements conflict with NASA’s timeline, which shows the return plan was in motion months earlier.
In summary, while Musk and some political figures assert that Biden rejected an early rescue plan, there is no concrete evidence—such as official correspondence or NASA records—to substantiate this. NASA’s account suggests the extended stay resulted from operational decisions, not a political directive from Biden. The lack of transparency about Musk’s alleged offer (e.g., when, to whom, and in what form it was made) leaves the claim unverified. Without further documentation, it remains a contested narrative rather than a proven fact.
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