NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore, who are to return to earth after being stranded in space for over nine months, expressed gratitude for SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump.
In the video posted by Musk on X, Sunita Williams said, "We are coming back before long, so don't make those plans without me. We'll be back before too long."
Butch Wilmore said, "All of us have the utmost respect for Mr. Musk and obviously respect and admiration for our President of the United States Donald Trump. We appreciate them, we appreciate all what they do for us, human spaceflight for our nation, and we're thankful for the positions they are in."
Wilmore and Williams have been stranded on the ISS for nine months after reaching there in June last year. They were supposed to stay there for about a week. The astronauts were transported from Earth to the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. However, the spacecraft came back to Earth unmanned in September. This came after Starliner faced "helium leaks" and "issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters" while docking with the ISS, Fox News reported.
Their return to Earth is now set for Tuesday evening. Williams and Wilmore are scheduled to travel back alongside Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov docked with the International Space Station on Sunday. -- ANI
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