They were supposed to be up there for eight days. Just eight.
But for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, that quick trip to the International Space Station (ISS) turned into a 286-day marathon. If you’ve spent any time on X (formerly Twitter) or following the news over the last year, you’ve probably seen the headlines about how Elon Musk saves astronaut crews when things go sideways. While the reality is a bit more nuanced than a billionaire flying a rocket himself to pull people out of a burning building, the role SpaceX played in this rescue is genuinely unprecedented.
Basically, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft—the ride that brought them up there in June 2024—started acting up. Helium leaks and thruster failures made NASA deeply uncomfortable about using it for the return leg. After months of "will they or won't they," NASA eventually decided to send the Starliner back empty and called Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide the life raft.
The Starliner Breakdown: Why a Rescue Was Even Necessary
It’s kinda wild when you think about the pressure Boeing was under. They were supposed to be the reliable veteran, the "safe" alternative to Musk's disruptive startup. Instead, the Starliner mission became a textbook example of what can go wrong in high-stakes engineering.
During the docking process, five of the ship's 28 maneuvering thrusters failed. Then there were the helium leaks. NASA engineers spent months testing thrusters on the ground at White Sands, trying to replicate the "teflon swelling" they suspected was causing the issues. Honestly, the data just wasn't clean enough. NASA has a culture of "flight rationale"—if you can't prove it's safe, it isn't.
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By August 2024, the decision was final: Butch and Suni weren't getting back on that Boeing craft.
How the SpaceX "Rescue" Actually Worked
When people say Elon Musk saves astronaut missions, they’re usually referring to the flexibility of the Crew Dragon capsule. But it wasn't an instant fix. It’s not like they could just send a "space Uber" the next morning.
NASA had to wait for the next scheduled SpaceX mission, Crew-9. To make room for the stranded pair, SpaceX had to fly that mission with two empty seats. They bumped two other astronauts, Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, which was a heartbreaking move for those who had trained for years.
- Suit Compatibility: Here is a detail most people miss—you can't just wear a Boeing suit in a SpaceX ship. The plugs are different. SpaceX had to fly up two specific "Dragon" suits on the Crew-9 mission so Butch and Suni could actually plug into the life support systems for the ride home.
- The Long Wait: Because the ISS operates on a strict rotation, the duo had to wait until March 2025 to actually come home. They didn't just sit around; they basically became full-time ISS crew members, doing science and even some unexpected plumbing.
- The Return: On March 18, 2025, the SpaceX Dragon capsule Freedom finally splashed down off the coast of Florida.
It was a daylight landing, which is rare these days. Seeing that toasted marshmallow of a capsule bobbing in the water was the end of a very long, very stressful chapter for NASA.
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The Political Firestorm Around the Rescue
This whole thing got incredibly messy on the ground. Elon Musk and then-candidate Donald Trump were very vocal about the situation. Musk claimed that SpaceX could have brought them back months earlier if the Biden administration hadn't "abandoned" them.
NASA, for its part, tried to stay out of the mud. They maintained that this was a planned, methodical transition. But Butch Wilmore himself later admitted in a press conference that while they didn't feel "abandoned," the situation was definitely a "odyssey" they hadn't signed up for.
It’s worth noting that Musk's SpaceX has become the de facto backbone of American space flight. Without the Crew Dragon, NASA would have had to go hat-in-hand to the Russians to buy seats on a Soyuz rocket. That would have been a geopolitical nightmare.
Beyond the Starliner: The 2026 Medical Evacuation
If you think the Starliner rescue was the end of it, space had another surprise in early 2026. Just days ago, in mid-January 2026, SpaceX completed yet another "rescue"—this time the first-ever medical evacuation from the ISS.
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A crew member on the Crew-11 mission (ironically including Zena Cardman, who had been bumped from the previous rescue mission) developed a serious medical condition. NASA didn't disclose the specifics, citing privacy, but they didn't take any chances. They used the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour to bring the entire crew home a month early, splashing down off San Diego on January 15, 2026.
This reinforces why the "Elon Musk saves astronaut" narrative keeps sticking. Whether it's a broken Boeing ship or a medical emergency, SpaceX is currently the only entity on the planet that can pivot that quickly to bring humans home.
What This Means for the Future of Space Travel
So, what have we learned from this nearly year-long saga? First, Boeing has a massive mountain to climb to regain trust. There is talk that the Starliner program might even be scrapped, though nothing is official yet.
Second, redundancy is everything. NASA’s decision to fund two different companies—SpaceX and Boeing—was vindicated. Even though Boeing failed this time, the fact that a SpaceX ship was available saved NASA from a total disaster.
If you’re following this, here is what you should keep an eye on next:
- Crew-12 Launch: NASA is currently working with SpaceX to move up the launch of Crew-12 to fill the gap left by the recent medical evacuation.
- Starliner’s Fate: Watch for NASA’s final report on the uncrewed return of the Starliner. This will determine if Boeing ever flies humans again.
- SpaceX Dominance: With SpaceX now handling rescue missions and medical EVs, their leverage in future NASA contracts for the Moon and Mars is basically absolute.
The takeaway? Space is still hard. Really hard. Even with all our tech, we’re often just one faulty thruster away from a nine-month unplanned vacation in orbit. It’s a good thing someone else had a spare seat.