NASA has confirmed its approach to bringing home two US astronauts currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) "as soon as practical," despite US President Donald Trump suggesting he would expedite the process through direct talks with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

The founder of SpaceX said President Trump had asked his company to return two astronauts aboard the space station to Earth “as soon as possible.” NASA said it would do that “as soon as practical.”

A spokesperson with NASA, which oversees SpaceX’s flights to the ISS, said “NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions.”