U.S. President Donald Trump spoke about the prolonged stay of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams on the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024. He called the Indian-American astronaut a ‘woman with wild hair’, a comment that drew criticism from her supporters.
Trump even made light of the astronauts’ time spent with each other, stating, “I hope they like each other, maybe they’ll love each other, I don’t know. But they’ve been left up there. Think of it.” His remarks were soon popular on social media, with people criticizing him as insensitive.
The return of the astronauts was postponed following technical problems with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which was initially scheduled for an eight-day flight. Trump attributed the delay to his predecessor, Joe Biden, and said he had done everything possible to return them.
He said that he had instructed SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to help with their return. “I authorised Elon a week ago. I said, ‘You know, we have two people up there that Biden and Kamala left up there.’ And he knows it very well. I said, ‘Are you capable of getting them?’ He said, ‘Yeah’.”
NASA confirmed that a SpaceX vessel will transport Wilmore and Williams back home on March 16.
Social Media Reactions
Trump’s observation regarding Williams’ hair followed the emergence of a viral video indicating her hair hovering in microgravity. He characterized her as ‘a woman with the wild hair’ but very swiftly added, “Good solid head of hair she’s got, there’s no games with her hair.”
Social media users were quick to condemn him. One said, “Donald Trump is so unserious.” Another accused him of racism, saying, “Trump made a racist comment about Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams by referring to her as a woman with ‘wild hair’.”
Others labeled him ‘an absolute idiot’ and ‘utterly bizarre’ recently.
How Do Astronauts Cut Their Hair in Space?
Following the viral discussion about Williams’ hair, some online users questioned how astronauts maintain their hair while in space. A NASA representative explained that astronauts use specialized clippers with a vacuum attachment to capture hair clippings that would otherwise float in microgravity.
Lora Bleacher, a spokesperson for NASA, explained in an email to Reuters that stray hair typically gets entangled in the ISS’s air flow vents, which the astronauts clean regularly. The astronauts also use common razors and shaving cream, as on Earth.
NASA and other space agencies have already recorded astronauts shaving and cutting their hair in space. In 2013, NASA posted footage of retired astronaut Christopher Cassidy receiving a haircut on the ISS.
