Nothing says “Biden-era efficiency” quite like two American astronauts being stranded in space for nine months because the government put its faith in Boeing’s Starliner—a spacecraft that, as it turns out, was about as reliable as a used car with a “trust me” sticker on the windshield.
What started as an eight-day mission in June ended up becoming a space survival saga, with Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore stuck in orbit while bureaucrats on the ground tried to figure out what to do next. The solution? Keep them up there and hope nobody noticed.
The Starliner, which was supposed to be Boeing’s big entry into the commercial space race, suffered multiple helium leaks and thruster failures, making a return trip just a bit too risky. So instead of bringing the astronauts home on the spacecraft that was supposed to do exactly that, NASA sent Starliner back to Earth empty and told Williams and Wilmore to make themselves comfortable on the International Space Station. For nine months.
Former President Trump called out the situation in January, saying the Biden administration had “virtually abandoned” the astronauts. And honestly, where’s the lie? If this were a PR nightmare for the White House, they certainly didn’t act like it.
Meanwhile, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said he had offered to bring them home months ago, but according to him, the Biden administration “refused” for “political reasons.” NASA, of course, denied this, because what else are they going to say? “Yeah, we just kind of left them up there and hoped for the best”?
“Jesus is working out His plan and purposes.”
Butch Wilmore, a NASA astronaut who was stuck in space for 286 days, glorifies Jesus Christ as he prepares for his return journey to Earth. pic.twitter.com/VXcnulHyDc
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) March 18, 2025
PROMISE MADE, PROMISE KEPT: President Trump pledged to rescue the astronauts stranded in space for nine months.
Today, they safely splashed down in the Gulf of America, thanks to @ElonMusk, @SpaceX, and @NASA! pic.twitter.com/r01hVWAC8S
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 18, 2025
Speaking of money, let’s talk numbers. Boeing’s contract for the Starliner program? $4.5 billion. The amount they’ve burned through beyond that due to mismanagement and technical failures? Another $1.5 billion. And what do they have to show for it? A spacecraft that had to be sent home empty because it wasn’t safe enough to do the one thing it was designed to do. In comparison, SpaceX got $2.6 billion from NASA and has been dominating the industry, successfully launching and returning crews for years. But sure, let’s keep pretending Boeing’s got this under control.
Trump, never one to miss an opportunity to highlight government incompetence, celebrated the astronauts’ return on Truth Social, saying, “[A]fter eight long months for a mission that was supposed to be eight days, IT IS TIME. I look forward to seeing Butch and Suni, and thank you again to NASA and Janet Petro!”
It’s a fair point—if this had happened under his administration, the media would be running 24/7 coverage about how the president had abandoned astronauts in space. Under Biden? Barely a peep.
The astronauts finally made it home, thanks to a SpaceX Dragon capsule—the very company the government seemed hesitant to rely on when Boeing was still in the mix. Funny how that works. Maybe next time, we could skip the political games and just go with the company that actually gets the job done.
