NASA astronauts Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore surely didn't think they'd still be on the International Space Station this long when they left Earth in June. In fact, they initially expected to stay for just eight days.

Posts by President Trump and Elon Musk roiled the space community, raising the prospect of an earlier-than-planned return for the Starliner crew.

The Expedition 72 crew has completed final preparations for a scheduled science and maintenance spacewalk on Thursday. Meanwhile, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) spent the day conducting research on space agriculture,

US President Donald Trump has criticized the Biden administration for "abandoning" two NASA astronauts currently stranded on the International Space Station.

The president and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk are falsely blaming Biden for the situation, ignoring an existing plan that's been in place since last year.

As for the spacewalk itself, if you’d like to watch along with the event, it will be livestreamed on NASA’s streaming service, NASA+. Coverage begins at 6:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, with the spacewalk itself beginning at 8 a.m. ET.

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.

Williams and Wilmore both arrived at the ISS last June, aboard the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. The astronauts were only slated for a 10-day mission, but issues with Starliner during docking led to multiple delays in their return, with NASA ultimately deciding to have Starliner make the journey back to Earth uncrewed.

NASA appears to be retaining existing plans to return astronauts from the International Space Station after calls to bring them back “as soon as possible.”

"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 on Truth Social, ac

The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @SpaceStation as soon as possible. We will do so,” Musk said on his social media app, X, Tuesday evening.

Two NASA astronauts who have been on the International Space Station since June 2024 are preparing for a spacewalk. A spacewalk, also known as an extravehicular activity (EVA), is when an astronaut leaves their spacecraft and works outside in space.