"I don't think I'm being abandoned": one of the astronauts stuck on the ISS responds to Donald Trump

A stay that drags on. The two NASA astronauts, stuck since June 2024 in the International Space Station (ISS) due to technical problems, assured that they did not feel "abandoned", in an interview given Friday, February 7 to CBS News , responding to the comments of President Donald Trump.

"I don't think I'm being abandoned. I don't think we're stuck here," astronaut Sunita Williams said.

"We have food, clothes. We have enough to get home in case something really bad happens to the International Space Station," she said, after spending 7 months in space with her colleague Barry "Butch" Wilmore.

"We're in a situation where the International Space Station is fully manned and doing what the (American) taxpayers wanted, which is world-class science. So I feel honored to be here and to be part of the team," Williams said.

At the end of January, the American president had become impatient at still not seeing the astronauts return to Earth.

"I just asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to go 'get' the two brave astronauts who were virtually abandoned in space by the Biden administration. They have been waiting for many months in the Space Station," Donald Trump denounced on his Truth Social account in a message posted on January 29.

"Elon will be on his way soon," the president assured.

The head of SpaceX, which largely financed the American president's campaign, had previously said that the White House tenant had asked SpaceX to bring back the two astronauts "as soon as possible"

Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore arrived at the ISS in June aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. They were supposed to stay eight days in the orbiting laboratory, but technical problems with the spacecraft prompted NASA to change its plans.

The US space agency first announced in August that Boeing's rival SpaceX would return the duo to Earth in February. But the operation was again delayed until late March as SpaceX prepared a new spacecraft.

Already questioned about their physical condition and morale, the two astronauts assured in January that they were adapting well to their extended stay and were busy with various scientific missions.

" We would love to go home someday because we left our families a while ago, but we still have a lot of things to do while we are here," said Sunita Williams.