When Wilmore and Williams were sent up to the International Space Station (ISS) in June last year, it was also a test of aerospace giant Boeing's new spacecraft Starliner. But even though the launch went well, Starliner far from got approved.
Technical problems made the US space agency NASA decide that the two astronauts' return journey for safety reasons had to wait until there was room on the more proven capsule Crew Dragon from Space X.
And the available seats are only now available – when the two space travelers have spent over nine months, compared to the planned approximately nine days, up there.
We're coming up and getting you! said Trump at a lighthearted appearance at the White House last week.
You know, they've been left up there. I hope they like each other. Maybe they love each other, who knows, laughed the president.
Worse for relatives
The return journey will take place with a Crew Dragon that flies up on Thursday night, and on the way there it will bring four new crew members to ISS, Americans Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers plus Japanese Takuya Onishi and Russian Kirill Peskov.
There has been debate about whether Wilmore's and Williams' unexpectedly prolonged journey entails any special risks, but they themselves have said that the wait and uncertainty have probably been worse for relatives back on earth.
It's been a rollercoaster for them, probably more than for us, said 59-year-old Williams in a webcast recently.
We're here on a mission. We do what we're supposed to every day, and every day is interesting just because we're in space, it's super fun.
Unstable space venture
And President Trump seems envious of how wild her hair has become in zero gravity.
I've seen her with that wild hair, he said at the White House.
It's a solid, steady hairstyle. It's no joke – her hair doesn't get messed up.
For Boeing's space venture, the situation looks significantly more unstable. The classic aerospace giant got a contract with NASA for manned spaceflights at the same time as Elon Musk's upstart Space X in 2014.
Space X got Crew Dragon up and running with regular personnel transports to ISS in 2020. But when and if Boeing's Starliner will get permission to fly again is unclear.
