Washington: US President Donald Trump caught the internet’s attention with his bizarre comment about Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams during a press interaction at the Oval House on Thursday, March 6.
Referring to Williams as the “woman with the wild hair”, Trump floated the idea of personally leading a rescue mission to bring back her and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore, whose planned eight-day mission dragged on for over nine months.
“And I see the woman with the wild hair, good, solid head of hair she’s got. There’s no kidding, there’s no games with her hair,” he said.
Have a look at what he said here:
While addressing the stranded astronauts aboard the International Space Station, Trump assured, “We’re coming up to get you.”
Blaming the situation on his predecessor Joe Biden, he added, “Biden left them up there. He’s the most incompetent president in our history.” Trump also urged SpaceX chief Elon Musk to aid the rescue mission of the astronauts.
“We have two astronauts that are stuck in space. I have asked Elon (Musk), I said, ‘Do me a favour. Can you get them out?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ He is preparing to go up, I think in two weeks. He is right now preparing a ship to go up and get them,” he said.
Earlier, Musk also posted about the situation on X (formerly Twitter) and said, “SpaceX could have sent up another Dragon and brought them home 6 months ago, but the Biden White House (not NASA) refused to allow it. President Trump asked to bring them back as soon as possible and we are doing so.”
Williams and Wilmore launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner in June 2024 for a short mission, but due to technical failures like helium leaks and thruster problems left the spacecraft unsafe for return.
Earlier this year, Williams set a new record for the most spacewalking time by a woman, clocking 62 hours and 6 minutes. Notably, during her 2012 ISS mission, she also became the first person to complete a triathlon in space, adapting swimming, cycling, and running to microgravity conditions.
