Trump said that he had asked Musk and SpaceX to get “the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration”. The US president added on Truth Social: “Good luck Elon!!!”

Nasa has insisted that the two astronauts are not stranded in space, akin to Matt Damon in The Martian, and that they could be returned at any time, but that bringing them back now could leave the space station understaffed and jeopardize the science and maintenance of the outpost, which is why new astronauts are generally brought up to replace returning ones.