Trump and Musk accuse Biden of stranding NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on ISS (WATCH)

Trump and Musk accuse Biden of leaving NASA astronauts stranded on ISS, but astronauts deny feeling abandoned, citing extended stay due to technical issues.

In a joint interview, US President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have accused former President Joe Biden of leaving two NASA astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for "political reasons". However, the astronauts themselves have denied feeling abandoned.

The controversy surrounds the delayed return mission of the two astronauts, who were originally scheduled for an eight-day mission in June but have now been in space for 258 days. Issues with Boeing's Starliner capsule led to the delay, and although Musk's SpaceX launched a Crew Dragon capsule in September to rescue the astronauts, NASA has postponed their return multiple times.

“They got left in space… He [Biden] was going to leave them there. I think he didn’t want the publicity,” Trump said.

Musk criticized the delays, calling them "ridiculous" and stating that "at the president's request, or instruction, we are accelerating the return of the astronauts". NASA announced in December that Wilmore and Williams would remain on the ISS until late March, when a new SpaceX crew arrives.

Contrary to Trump's claims that Biden "abandoned" the astronauts, Williams and Wilmore have denied feeling stranded or abandoned, describing their extended stay as "a little longer than expected." "We don't feel abandoned, we don't feel stuck, we don't feel stranded," Wilmore told CNN.