Trump says he told Elon Musk and SpaceX to 'go get' astronauts who have been in space for 7 months. But NASA has said there's a plan to bring them home.

President Trump on Tuesday announced that he has asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to “go get” two NASA astronauts who have been aboard the International Space Station since June awaiting a return trip to Earth.

“I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to ‘go get’ the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “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!!!”

In a post on X, Musk confirmed that Trump has asked SpaceX to bring home the astronauts “stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible.”

“We will do so,” added Musk, who heads the Trump administration’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency. “Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”

But the astronauts — Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore — were not “abandoned” by Biden. NASA already had such a plan in place to return the astronauts to Earth — utilizing SpaceX.

🚀 How we got here

In June, Williams and Wilmore launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard Boeing’s new Starliner on what was supposed to be an eight-day test mission.

But helium leaks and thruster failures almost derailed their arrival at the space station and have kept them at the orbiting lab ever since.

In August, NASA announced that issues with the Starliner were more serious than first thought and that Williams and Wilmore would instead hitch a ride back to Earth with the SpaceX Crew-9 capsule in February instead of waiting for tests on the Starliner to be completed.

Then last month, NASA announced that SpaceX needed more time to complete the capsule it would need for the launch of Crew-10, which under NASA’s normal protocols would need to arrive before Crew-9 leaves the space station.

“NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 now is targeting no earlier than late March 2025 to launch four crew members to the International Space Station,” the space agency said in a press release. “The agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will return to Earth following the arrival of Crew-10 to the orbital laboratory.”

It’s unclear how or whether Trump’s directive will affect that timeframe. A spokesperson for NASA did not immediately return a request for comment.

👨‍🚀👩‍🚀 What the astronauts are saying

While their stay aboard the space station was unexpectedly extended, Wilmore and Williams, like all NASA astronauts, had trained for a lengthy mission.

And the pair have repeatedly said that they do not feel “stranded” in space.

“We have plenty of clothes,” Wilmore said during a call with NASA officials earlier this month. “We are well fed.”

"It's just been a joy to be working up here," Williams said. "It doesn't feel like we're castaways. Eventually we want to go home, because we left our families a little while ago, but we have a lot to do while we're up here."

In a call with high school students in her native Needham, Mass., earlier this week, Williams admitted she has forgotten some things about what life is like on Earth.

"I've been up here long enough right now I've been trying to remember what it's like to walk," Williams said. “I haven't walked. I haven't sat down. I haven't laid down. You don't have to. You can just close your eyes and float where you are right here."