SpaceX Rescue Crew Pranks Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams Ahead of Their Scheduled Return
SpaceX surprised astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been on the International Space Station since last June, during their recent rescue mission.
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore are close to phoning home.
SpaceX and NASA’s Crew-10 recently launched their joint mission to bring the two astronauts, who have been stranded on the International Space Station since last June, back down to Earth—but not without greeting them with an extraterrestrial prank.
In a March 16 video posted on X, one of the newly-arrived SpaceX crew members greeted Wilmore, 58, and Williams, 60, by wearing an alien mask. The crew member playfully folded his arms while nodding towards the duo, who briefly laughed at his costume before Williams gave the camera a thumbs up.
Shortly after the team delivered their alien surprise, four more astronauts assigned to the long-awaited mission—Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskov—then entered the hatch of the spacecraft and happily embraced Williams and Willmore.
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NASA Reveals Plan to Return Stranded Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Earth
“Crew-10 has had a great journey up here,” McClain, 45, said in the clip shared by the International Space Station, adding it took “about 28 hours” to complete the first half of the mission. “I cannot tell you the immense joy of our crew seeing the space station for the first time. The greatness of the ground control teams have really shined through in the last few days getting us up here safely.”
This Ellen Ripley-inspired prank is a lighthearted welcome for Williams and Wilmore, whose flight home was initially set for March 12. However, NASA announced in a press release earlier this month that the mission would be delayed by two days due to a “hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm.”
True to the delay, the crew arrived at the ISS on March 14. And now that the mission seems to be running smoothly, the earliest Williams and Wilmore would return to Earth is March 19, pending weather conditions.
Williams and Wilmore originally landed at the ISS in June 2024 and intended to stay in space for eight days. However, their spacecraft—the Boeing’s Starliner—had several mechanical issues, and was sent back to Earth without them on board several weeks after.
Amid concerns on Earth over how they were faring up at the ISS, the experienced astronauts pushed back President Donald Trump’s suggestion they had been “virtually abandoned” in space.
In fact, Williams emphasized to CNN in February that she and Williams, “doing pretty darn good, actually.”
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
“We’ve got food, we’ve got clothes, we have great crew members up here,” she explained in the joint February interview with Wilmore. “Of course, it was a little bit longer stay than we had expected, but both of us have trained to live and work on the International Space Station and I think we’ve made the most of it.”
Keep reading to learn more about the astronauts’ prolonged journey to space….
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
June 2024
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore launched into space on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft June 5, 2024, with plans to stay at the International Space Station for eight days. Shortly after their launch, the astronauts reported a “stable and isolated leak” in their propulsion-related plumbing, per the Associated Press.
While the leak remained stable throughout their travel to the ISS, four more leaks emerged and five thrusters—devices used for acceleration—failed. They were able to safely dock at the ISS, with the understanding that their mission would likely last longer than eight days.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
August 2024
Two months after their faulty launch, NASA came forward with the debacle of the two astronauts stuck in space. At the time, the space organization was still trying to determine whether the Starliner would be fit for a return to space, and Boeing maintained at the time it should have been, with the company telling E! News in a statement, “If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return.”
Meanwhile, former NASA official Scott Hubbard quelled public concern over Wilmore and Williams’ predicament, telling the Associated Press the astronauts—who have each been to space before on prior missions—are only “kind of stuck,” emphasizing that they have “plenty of supplies and work to do.”
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
August 2024
After NASA confirmed that Williams and Wilmore would return to Earth on a SpaceX mission in February or March, rather than attempting to fix the Starliner, their families spoke out.
Wilmore’s wife Deanna Wilmore told WVLT in August of her family’s predicament, “You just sort of have to roll with it and expect the unexpected.”
Meanwhile, Williams’ husband Michael shared that he didn’t think his wife would be unsettled by spending more time in space, telling The Wall Street Journal, “That’s her happy place.”
Nasa/UPI/Shutterstock
November 2024
Just before celebrating six months in space, Williams and Wilmore shared insight into their Thanksgiving celebrations aboard the ISS.
“We have a bunch of food that we’ve packed away that is Thanksgiving-ish,” Wiliams told NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt from the ISS on Nov. 27. “Some smoked turkey, some cranberry, apple cobbler, green beans and mushrooms and mashed potatoes.”
Williams also reiterated that she and Wilmore were doing just fine amid their extended stay in space.
“People are worried about us, really, don’t worry about us,” she added. “We’re feeling good, working out, eating right. We have a lot of fun up here, too.”
Manoj Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
December 2024
After the astronauts celebrated six months in space, NASA confirmed they would be staying even longer than previously thought. Although the organization had originally planned for the duo to return in February, delays in the SpaceX mission that would retrieve them led their stay to be extended to March or April, NASA said at the time.
(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
February 2025
In February, President Donald Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that Williams and Wilmore had been “virtually abandoned” in space amid their eight-day-turned-eight-month journey. However, following the headline-making comment, the astronauts pushed back on the president’s claim.
“We don’t feel abandoned,” Wilmore insisted to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in a Feb. 13 interview. “We don’t feel stuck. We don’t feel stranded. We come prepared. We come committed.”
Williams interjected during the interview that the pair were “doing pretty darn good, actually.”
“We’ve got food, we’ve got clothes, we have great crew members up here,” she continued. “Of course, it was a little bit longer stay than we had expected, but both of us have trained to live and work on the International Space Station and I think we’ve made the most of it.”
During the interview, Wilmore and Williams also confirmed they’d be returning to Earth when SpaceX launches its Dragon capsule March 12.
“They’ll come here, rendezvous and dock,” Wilmore explained. “We’ll do a turnover for about a week and we will return on or about the 19th of March.”
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
March 2025
Just days before her father was set to return, Wilmore’s daughter Daryn Wilmore spoke out on her father’s time in space—and how she felt about the delays in his return to Earth.
“It’s a bit mentally exhausting,” she told the Daily Mail in a March 6 interview. “There’s been issues. There’s been negligence. And that’s the reason why this has just kept getting delayed. There’s just been issue after issue after issue.”
Daryn expressed that her father was “bummed,” but otherwise doing well on the ISS, adding, “My dad is very resilient.”
