Fact-check: Is Joe Rogan's claim that Elon Musk rescued astronauts "trapped" in space accurate?

Joe Rogan recently expressed strong support for Elon Musk’s role in facilitating the safe return of NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, who had been stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months.

Both astronauts were initially slated for an eight-day mission to the ISS in June 2024. However, unforeseen technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft extended their stay indefinitely. In March, SpaceX, led by Musk, launched a retrieval operation using a Crew Dragon capsule already docked at the ISS to safely return the astronauts to Earth.

During a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience featuring NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the longtime UFC commentator didn’t hold back in his praise for Musk. Rogan slammed the mainstream media for overlooking the Tesla CEO’s crucial contribution to the safe return of Williams and Wilmore from space:

"There’s a study that shows 96% of all the stories that mainstream media prints about Elon Musk are negative... Meanwhile, the guy saved those f**king trapped up in space. You didn’t hear a peep about that."

Check out Joe Rogan's comments below (8:08):

Musk has consistently alleged in interviews and social media posts that the astronauts were intentionally left marooned for "political reasons," suggesting that the Joe Biden administration unnecessarily delayed their return to Earth.

However, in a March interview with Fox News (via The Guardian), both Williams and Wilmore diplomatically clarified that they never felt neglected or in urgent need of the rescue efforts that U.S. president Donald Trump and Musk had deemed essential. Instead, the astronauts stated that they carried out their responsibilities as active members of the space station crew throughout their extended mission. Wilmore said:

"So in certain respects we were stuck, in certain respects, maybe we were stranded, but based on how they were couching this, that we were left and forgotten in orbit, we were nowhere near any of that at all. Stuck? OK, we didn’t get to come home the way we planned. But in the big scheme of things, we weren’t stuck. We planned and trained."

Check out Barry Wilmore's comments below (8:54):

According to carefully phrased statements from Williams and Wilmore, they did not feel left unsupported by the previous U.S. administration. Although Rogan characterized their situation as being "trapped" in space, this portrayal may somewhat amplified the circumstances. Nonetheless, it is an established fact that the astronauts spent an extended period aboard the ISS.