SpaceX Crew-9 Arrives at ISS: Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore Welcome New Ride Home | Video

Washington: After months of waiting, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will finally return to Earth in February 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule as the Crew-9 mission successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday. The two astronauts, who have been stranded on the ISS since June 2024 due to safety concerns with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, were originally scheduled for a much shorter stay.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday, carried NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. The capsule docked at the ISS at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, officially beginning the final phase of the rescue mission for Williams and Wilmore.

"What a fabulous day it was today," NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy said while addressing the media. After docking was completed, Hague and Gorbunov boarded the station just after 7:00 pm, embracing their floating colleagues on the space station.

Hague and Gorbunov were welcomed by the Expedition 72 crew, including Williams and Wilmore, as well as NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, Don Petitt, and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Grebenkin, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner. 

NASA’s Johnson Space Center announced on X, “The official welcome! The Expedition 72 crew welcomed Crew-9, NASA astronauts Nick Hague, the Crew-9 commander, and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, the Crew-9 mission specialist, after their flight aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.”

The arrival of the Crew Dragon capsule follows a series of delays. Originally slated to launch two days earlier, the mission was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions caused by Hurricane Helene. The Falcon 9 rocket finally lifted off at 1:17 p.m. EDT on Saturday, sending Hague and Gorbunov on their journey to the ISS.

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore had been scheduled to return to Earth aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which launched on June 5, 2024. However, NASA determined that it was too risky to bring the astronauts back on Starliner, and the spacecraft returned to Earth without a crew in September. In response, SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission was adapted to provide a safe return for the astronauts, with their seats on the Dragon capsule reserved after two Crew-9 astronauts were removed from the mission.

"Wilmore and Williams will continue their work formally as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew through February 2025. They will fly home aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Starliner is expected to depart from the space station and make a safe, controlled autonomous re-entry and landing in early September," NASA had said in a statement.