SpaceX Capsule to Bring Back Stranded Sunita Williams Docks With Space Station

The SpaceX capsule and the crew that will ferry back two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station docked with the space station on Sunday. The docking was live streamed.

The Falcon 9 rocket that took off at 1.17 pm from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Saturday, with the Crew-9 mission on a Dragon spacecraft, reached the ISS at 5:30 pm on Sunday.

After docking was completed, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov boarded the space station after 7.00 pm. They were welcomed to the space station by the colleagues on the space station.

During their return to earth in February 2025, Hague and Gorbunov will bring back two space veterans, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams.

Technical snags of the Boeing-designed Starliner spacecraft prolonged Butch and Sunita’s stay in the ISS. In its first crewed flight in space the Starliner delivered Wilmore and Williams to the ISS in June.

They were supposed to be in the ISS for only eight days. But after problems with the Starliner’s propulsion system emerged during the flight there, NASA made changes in the plans of Butch and Sunita’s return.

In total, Hague and Gorbunov will spend some five months on the ISS; and Butch and Sunita, eight months.