President Trump and Elon Musk have repeatedly made false claims that two NASA astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, aboard the ISS are stranded and in need of rescue. They falsely blame former President Biden for the situation.
NASA announced a plan in August to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth with the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. While their return is slightly earlier than initially planned due to logistical issues with the Crew-10 launch, it's not a rescue mission. The early return is a result of NASA rescheduling spacecraft and not because of any political maneuvering.
Both Musk and Trump have reasons to misrepresent the situation: Musk, as owner of SpaceX, a competitor of Boeing (the maker of the Starliner spacecraft), benefits from portraying Boeing negatively. Trump uses the situation to attack Biden politically. Musk's companies have been awarded significant government contracts, raising concerns of potential conflicts of interest.
The Starliner mission has faced multiple issues, including cost overruns, delays, and technical problems, ultimately resulting in a delay and a longer stay for the astronauts on the ISS. NASA has frozen future missions involving the Starliner spacecraft.