SpaceX Capsule for Stranded Astronauts Docks at Space Station, Reports Reuters

A SpaceX Crew Dragon space capsule arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, as confirmed by NASA and SpaceX, and is set to bring home astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams next year.

Following the capsule’s docking at the station at 2130 GMT, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov boarded the ISS. The Crew-9 mission was initially intended to transport four astronauts to the ISS, but two seats were made available for Wilmore and Williams after their Boeing Starliner capsule, which had transported them in June, was deemed unfit for their return journey.

Wilmore and Williams, both former military test pilots, have been aboard the ISS since the Starliner encountered thruster failures and helium leaks, leading NASA to determine that it was unsafe for their return on that spacecraft. Earlier this month, the Starliner was returned to Earth without crew.

Wilmore and Williams, who were part of the first crew to fly on the problematic Starliner, are now scheduled to return home alongside Hague and Gorbunov on the Crew Dragon in February next year, extending what was originally planned as an 8-day mission into an 8-month stay in space.