  The present article considers time symmetric initial data sets for the vacuum
Einstein field equations which in a neighbourhood of infinity have the same
massless part as that of some static initial data set. It is shown that the
solutions to the regular finite initial value problem at spatial infinity for
this class of initial data sets extend smoothly through the critical sets where
null infinity touches spatial infinity if and only if the initial data sets
coincide with static data in a neighbourhood of infinity. This result
highlights the special role played by static data among the class of initial
data sets for the Einstein field equations whose development gives rise to a
spacetime with a smooth conformal compactification at null infinity.
