Crew Arrives at International Space Station to Relieve Astronauts Stranded for 9 Months | US News
The team set to replace the astronauts who have been on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months has successfully docked at the orbiting laboratory.
A SpaceX capsule brought four astronauts to the ISS on Sunday, enabling Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been aboard since June 2024, to prepare for their return home.
Approximately 29 hours after the Falcon 9 rocket’s launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Dragon capsule docked with the ISS at 4:04 AM UK time. On board are the Crew-10 astronauts.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the ISS, ready to greet Crew-10. Pic: NASA
Among them are NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, both military pilots, along with Takuya Onishi from Japan and Kirill Peskov from Russia, both former airline pilots. They will be spending the next six months aboard the space station.
This mission will enable four members of Crew-9, which includes Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams, to safely return to Earth.
The Dragon capsule has successfully docked with the ISS. Pic: NASA
The view from the ISS as the Dragon capsule navigated to dock. Pic: NASA
The docking process for Dragon at the ISS took several minutes and is fully automated, but there will be an additional hour and 45 minutes for safety checks before the hatch can be opened.
Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams initially scheduled their space mission to last just eight days but encountered difficulties that left them stranded on the station after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft faced issues.
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