NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore is one happy astronaut.
Wilmore, along with Suni Willians, thanked President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for their role in saving the pair after becoming stranded on the International Space Station for nine months, per The Daily Wire.
On Monday, during an interview on “America’s Newsroom” with Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer, Wilmore went further in his admiration of Trump and Musk after Hemmer asked, ““What would you like to say to President Trump and Elon Musk?”
“I respect you. I trust you. You’ve given me no reason not to trust you, either one of them. What they say, I can’t say what they say. I haven’t lived that. But I have no reason not to believe anything they say because they’v earned my trust,” Wilmore said. “And for that, I am grateful that our national leaders actually are coming in and taking part in our human spaceflight program, which we see is hugely important global significance and they take an active role and based on the past and what we see now with them doing that it’s refreshing – not just refreshing – it’s empowering.”
“It’s strengthening for our nation, I think it’s a good thing for our nation when the national leaders, especially something that’s high visibility, are involved in the process and I’m grateful for that,” Wilmore added.
Williams added her own insight as she expressed her gratitude to Trump and Musk for making the pair’s return to earth safely a priority.
“I’m just glad that they’re involved and they take notice. And, our situation, I think I mentioned before, maybe wasn’t the perfect situation, but allowed a lot of people, including the President and Elon, to look at what’s going on on the International Space Station, take it very seriously and understand that our involvement as a country, as a spacefaring nation, is really important throughout the world,” she said. “And it sets an example and it shows, you know, our ability to be able to do the hard things, put people in space, operate in space work in space and then bring us back. It’s important and I appreciate that them and many, many, many more people took notice of it.”
Monday’s interview with Hemmer was the first one for Wilmore and Williams since being rescued by a SpaceX crew on March 18. A problem with their Boeing StarlinerTurned a week- long space trip into a nine month one.
Musk reportedly was ready to launch a rescue mission last year, but that was halted by President Joe Biden’s administration.
