Despite Trump’s claims that the Starliner astronauts were “abandoned”, a plan was in place to return Williams and Wilmore before he took office. In September 2024, NASA chose to launch its Crew-9 mission with two astronauts instead of four. This was so Williams and Wilmore could return at the end of Crew-9’s regular rotation in February.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have shared a video of NASA's two stuck astronauts—which included one thanking the pair—ahead of their return to Earth. They shared the clip from earlier this month on their social media accounts as a SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday,

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said his Starship rocket will head to Mars by the end of next year, as the company investigates several recent explosions in flight tests. Human landings could begin as early as 2029 if initial missions go well,

Musk—who has a history of setting unrealized goals for his companies—says he wants to send humans to Mars by 2029, though he says 2031 may be more likely.

SpaceX's Starship could be heading to Mars by the end of 2026, and it will be carrying Tesla’s Optimus humanoid bot! Musk even hinted that humans could land on Mars as early as 2029, though 2031 seems more likely,