Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk congratulated SpaceX and NASA on successfully bringing home two astronauts who had been stranded at the International Space Station (ISS) for nearly nine months.

Speaking on “Hannity” Tuesday, Musk commended the teams responsible for ensuring the astronauts’ safe return.

“Thanks to the excellent work of the SpaceX team working with NASA, the astronauts are now safely home. And so congratulations to the SpaceX NASA teams on excellent work,” Musk said during the interview.

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Musk, who also leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), specifically praised President Donald Trump for his role in expediting the rescue mission.

“A huge note of appreciation to President Donald Trump for prioritizing and expediting the return,” Musk added.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams originally launched to the ISS in June 2024 aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on what was intended to be a one-week mission.

However, technical issues with the spacecraft prevented its safe return, leaving the two astronauts stranded in orbit for months.

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Wilmore and Williams, along with Crew-9 Commander Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, finally made their way back to Earth on Tuesday.

Their capsule splashed down off the coast of Florida just before 6 p.m. ET.

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

The prolonged delay in Wilmore and Williams’ return became a political issue, particularly for the Trump administration.

Musk previously claimed during a February 18 appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” that Joe Biden had left the astronauts in space for “political reasons.”

Shortly after taking office, Trump made it a priority to bring the astronauts home.

He directly tasked Musk and SpaceX with completing the rescue mission, arguing that the previous administration had abandoned the crew.

“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. They have been waiting for many months on @Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!” Trump wrote in a statement at the time.

At a post-landing news conference on Tuesday, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Joel Montalbano was asked about claims that the Biden-Harris administration deliberately delayed the return of the Starliner crew.

“Yeah, so I wasn’t involved in any conversations with the previous administration,” Montalbano said.

“It was clear we had a request from the current administration, and the results you saw are what we saw today with the landing of Crew-9.”

During his interview with Hannity, Musk directly addressed the political controversy surrounding the astronauts’ extended stay in space.

He confirmed that SpaceX had offered to bring the astronauts home months earlier, but the offer was rejected by the Biden-Harris administration.

“We definitely offered to return the astronauts earlier. There’s no question about that,” Musk stated.

“The astronauts were only supposed to be there for eight days, and they’ve been there for almost ten months. So, obviously, that doesn’t make any sense. SpaceX could have brought the astronauts back after a few months at most, and we made that offer to the Biden administration. It was rejected for political reasons, and that’s just a fact,” Musk added.

With the successful return of the astronauts, the mission has drawn renewed attention to the role of politics in space exploration and the impact of leadership decisions on national space policy.

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