Stranded NASA astronauts to return as SpaceX Dragon docks with ISS

As part of a NASA crew-swapping mission, a SpaceX Dragon capsule brought four astronauts to the International Space Station, allowing them to return to Earth after nine months of stranding.

About 29 hours after leaving NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which was launched at 12: 04 AM ET (04: 04 GMT), docked to the ISS.

The station’s seven-member crew, which includes retired Navy test pilots Suni Williams and retired NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, has welcomed them.

The Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which was undergoing its maiden crewed voyage, had propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to return the crew to Earth. Their extended stay exceeded the typical six-month ISS rotation for astronauts by a lot.

However, it is much shorter than the 371 days that NASA’s Frank Rubio spent on board the ISS in 2023, and the 437 days that Russian astronaut Valeri Polyakov spent spent on board the Mir space station, respectively.

The Crew-10 mission is a long-awaited first step toward bringing Wilmore and Williams back to Earth, which is a routine crew rotation flight if President Donald Trump hasn’t been in office since January. It’s a part of a plan put forth by NASA last year that has been given more urgency by President Trump.

Along with Russian astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to leave the ISS on Wednesday at 4am ET (08:00 GMT).

In September, Hague and Gorbunov took a Crew Dragon craft with two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams to the ISS, and that craft has since been attached to the station.