'Don't make plans without me': NASA's Sunita Williams' message to Elon Musk, Trump ahead of return

Donald Trump and his close ally Elon Musk have shared a video of NASA's two stuck astronauts- Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore- in which they expressed gratitude to SpaceX CEO and US President. Trump and Musk, the owner of SpaceX and a top adviser to the president, shared a clip on the social media platforms they own, Truth Social and X.

In the video posted by Musk on X, formerly known as Twitter, Sunita Williams said, "We are coming back before long, so don't make those plans without me. We'll be back before too long." Musk shared the video of Williams and Wilmore in a post on X on Sunday, adding heart and rocket emojis.



"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," Butch Wilmore said.

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Sunita Williams' set to return to Earth

Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams had expected to be gone about a week when they launched from Cape Canaveral as test pilots for Boeing's new Starliner capsule on June 5. But the capsule encountered so many problems that NASA bosses insisted it return empty in September. They planned in December for Wilmore and Williams to return on a SpaceX flight initially scheduled for February.

The mission garnered political attention when President Trump and Elon Musk pledged to speed up the astronauts' return and accused the former President Joe Biden's team of abandoning the astronauts. However, Williams and Wilmore were already scheduled to return on a SpaceX flight before Trump asked Musk to get them.

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Asked about the stranded astronauts, Trump had said, "We love you 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... I've authorized Elon Musk to go and get them and he's prepared to do so." (sic)

When will the astronauts return?

The answer is- March 18. "NASA and SpaceX met on Sunday to assess weather and splashdown conditions off Florida's coast for the return of the agency's Crew-9 mission from the International Space Station. Mission managers are targeting an earlier Crew-9 return opportunity based on favorable conditions forecasted for the evening of Tuesday, March 18."

NASA said that subject to change based on real-time operations, the SpaceX capsule will undock from the space station at 1:05 a.m. on March 18 and splashdown off the Florida coast is expected at approximately 5:57 p.m.

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According to a NASA statement, the updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility before less-favourable weather conditions are expected later in the week.

(With inputs from agencies)