A new crew has arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) to replace astronauts who were unexpectedly stuck there for nine months. A SpaceX capsule successfully delivered four astronauts on Sunday, allowing Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to finally return home after their extended stay.
The Dragon spacecraft, carrying the Crew-10 astronauts, docked with the ISS at 4:04 AM UK time, about 29 hours after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The docking process took several minutes, and there were additional safety checks that delayed the opening of the hatch for nearly two hours.
The new crew consists of NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. They will spend the next six months aboard the ISS, learning from Wilmore and Williams, who had originally planned to stay for just eight days. Their extended mission was due to technical issues with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which ultimately left them stranded.
Wilmore opened the hatch to welcome the new arrivals, ringing a ship’s bell as they floated in, greeted with hugs and handshakes. McClain expressed the joy of seeing the ISS for the first time from their approaching capsule, highlighting the excitement of their journey.
After spending time on the station, Wilmore and Williams will prepare to return to Earth. They are set to use a capsule that has been on the ISS since last year. Their return was initially delayed due to issues with the new capsule that was meant to bring them home, which required battery repairs.
The new crew will help maintain the ongoing research and operations aboard the ISS while Wilmore and Williams wrap up their unexpected mission. Weather permitting, the returning astronauts are expected to undock and splash down off the coast of Florida later this week.