The sage of Butch and Sunny (Suni), the two astronauts who were left stranded at the ISS after the last of many Boeing space failures, is almost over.
Sent up as test pilots for Boeing's ill-fated Starliner, they were left at the ISS due to fears that the Starliner's many issues made a return to Earth too risky for manned spaceflight. Helium leaks, thruster issues, and difficulties with potential reprogramming of the flight computer all conspired to make the risk profile unattractive.
At the time the decision was made to return the Starliner to Earth unmanned, it was widely speculated that SpaceX would send up a Dragon capsule to return the astronauts to our beautiful Blue Marble. After all, they were sent to the space station without changes of clothes or other necessities beyond the 8-day mission, and no provisions were made for the two extra crew members to stay 8 months.
Let me be clear: there was no special safety issue with them remaining on the station. There was enough food, oxygen, and other necessities, but the mission would have been planned out far differently for NASA, the other astronauts, and for Butch and Sunny if the intent was to keep them in space for 8 months.
I’m not saying that Joe Biden stranded astronauts in space for nine months, but the astronauts that Joe Biden stranded in space for nine months are saying that Joe Biden stranded astronauts in space for nine months. pic.twitter.com/NkmJnVYUtI
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) March 6, 2025
It was long rumored that the reason no effort was made to return the astronauts to Earth was political. The Democrats are at total war with Elon Musk, and have been demonizing him ever since he became an open Republican and after he bought Twitter. Musk suddenly went from being an environmentalist hero to a Bond-villain oligarch and a threat to all that is good and decent.
Well, it is now confirmed that Elon Musk's claim to have offered to bring the astronauts home was rebuffed by the White House. Not NASA, but the White House, and at least one of the astronauts' families has been secretly suffering due to that decision, and she is speaking out.
Stranded NASA astronaut's daughter finally breaks silence as she lashes out: 'Negligence' https://t.co/40B6ioO1lP
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) March 6, 2025
Butch's teenage daughter quietly posted a video that was just publicly noticed--she was not, apparently, speaking out politically to a large audience but sharing her personal feeling to her friends--expressing her distress at her father's having been stranded in space. She also shared that while Butch has been a trooper in public, he has also expressed frustration about the situation and the stress it has caused his family.
It's been hard if we're completely honest', she said. Daryn said her frustration about her father's stay was 'less the fact that he's up there' and 'more the fact of why.'
'There's a lot of politics, there's a lot of things that I'm not at liberty to say, and that I don't know fully about,' she said.
'But there's been issues. There's been negligence. And that's the reason why this has just kept getting delayed. There's just been issue after issue after issue.'
Daryn posted the video just weeks before SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, whose company is tasked with bringing the Starliner crew back to Earth later this month, said the Biden administration left them in space for 'political reasons.'
Wilmore and his crewmate, Sunita Williams, were set to return from the ISS eight days after arriving, but their return capsule was plagued by issues and NASA delayed the flight home. They are set to come back to Earth no earlier than March 19.
JUST IN: President Trump sends a message to the stranded ISS astronauts.
— Resist the Mainstream (@ResisttheMS) March 6, 2025
"We love you and we're coming up to get you." pic.twitter.com/peF3Nfd5Hl
Now make no mistake: anybody who is crazy enough to be an astronaut is unlikely to be complaining too much about getting time in space, and I am certain he has mixed feelings about his opportunity to be at the ISS. But there is a big difference between planning an 8-day trip and an 8-month one.
Stranded astronaut confirms Biden shot down Musk’s offer to bring pair home: ‘Absolutely factual’ https://t.co/vOX4ihj0u6 pic.twitter.com/FNl6LOsgQk
— New York Post (@nypost) March 6, 2025
During the height of the campaign season, when Musk was traveling with Trump the Pravda Media used their megaphone to shoot down any notion that the astronauts were "stranded" or that Musk should be tapped to return them to our fine planet.
That's crazy talk! NASA and the astronauts are THRILLED to have them up there to chip in with all the vital work going on.
Well, not so much. It was the Biden folks who wanted to deny Trump any political talking points.
Huh. So are they stranded or not? pic.twitter.com/HOQNd3fzKg
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) March 6, 2025
I am sure you are shocked, not shocked by this confirmation of what we all pretty much guessed. As usual, Joe Biden chose to sacrifice others to his own political ambitions.
What a scumbag.
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