Even though astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams have been on the International Space Station (ISS) since last June, they don’t feel like they’ve been “abandoned” in space. This contradicts statements made by Donald Trump last month, who claimed that their mission had been left to its fate.

“Trump said that you and Barry Wilmore, your fellow Starliner crewmate, were – these are his words – ‘essentially abandoned,'” a CBS Evening News reporter quoted SUNY Williams as saying. “Do you feel abandoned up there, governor?”

“I don’t think we’ve abandoned up here,” Williams replied during an interview. “We have food, we have clothes and we have a means of return in case something really serious happens on the International Space Station. After all, that’s what taxpayers would want – to conduct world-class scientific research. And that’s why I’m honored to be here and to be part of this team.”

Trump last month blamed former US President Joe Biden for extending the mission of the Starliner crew. In a social media post, he said he had asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to “go get” the two “brave astronauts who have been essentially abandoned in space by the Biden administration.”

“We are part of something bigger than ourselves. We’re part of the International Space Station and we have obligations to our international partners to continue scientific research and exploration while we’re up here,” Williams said elsewhere in the interview. “We knew this was going to happen, so no, we don’t feel abandoned. We feel like we belong on the team, and that’s a huge honor.”

The two astronauts’ mission was extended from a few days to more than nine months.

However, NASA is finalizing plans for their return to Earth, along with their two space station crewmates – Crew-9 mission commander Nick Haig, and cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov – with a possible departure date of around March 19, according to news media sources.

Why the mission was extended so long

Based on the current schedule – although there may be changes – Wilmore and Williams will have completed nearly 290 days in orbit since their June 5 launch. Their mission was originally scheduled to last a little more than a week, as the goal was to make the first pilot test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.

However, the Starliner, which was developed as part of NASA‘s program to create independent commercial spacecraft to carry astronauts to and from the space station, experienced propulsion problems and helium leaks shortly after launch. These issues caused delays, requiring weeks and then months of testing and analysis.

Ultimately, NASA officials decided that the risks were too great for Wilmore and Williams to return to the Starliner.

Instead, they chose to remotely lower the craft, without a crew, and keep the astronauts on the station until they could return with Haig and Gorbunov at the end of the Crew-9 mission.