A SpaceX rocket sent to rescue two astronauts stranded in space for nine months has docked with the International Space Station (ISS). Two NASA astronauts who went to space on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 6 have been stuck in space for over nine months.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was successfully launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Friday night to accomplish the mission of delivering four new astronauts to the ISS. This successful launch means that astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore can finally return to Earth.
Despite claims by SpaceX owner Elon Musk and others that Williams and Wilmore were left at the ISS for political reasons, these claims have been rejected by the astronauts. The new crew reached the ISS on Sunday after a 28-hour journey.
Following the completion of pressurization and leak checks that are expected to last about 90 minutes, Wilmore is scheduled to open the hatch of the station. Williams and Wilmore are expected to start their return to Earth via SpaceX’s Dragon capsule on Wednesday.
The duo, initially scheduled for an eight-day mission, will return home after a long time. Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov will accompany them on the return flight.
The new crew will spend a few days learning the intricacies of the station and will then begin their normal six-month tour of duty. This development follows setbacks in the rescue mission. The most recent one being the cancellation of the flight last minute on Wednesday due to a hydraulic system issue with the Falcon 9 rocket.
President Trump’s request to Musk to “bring back” Williams and Wilmore led NASA to advance the return mission by two weeks. Prior to Trump’s request, astronauts were not expected to return before March 26. Trump and Musk’s claim that astronauts were left in space for political reasons sparked a major debate during the mission.
Musk mentioned offering to bring back the astronauts to their country eight months ago, but the Biden Administration declined. While NASA’s Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate Ken Bowersox did not provide information on these discussions, NASA’s ISS program Deputy Director Dina Contellam stated that the Crew-10 launch took place while Wilmore and Williams were asleep at the station.