NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore to return Home as SpaceX crew Dragon reaches ISS

A SpaceX capsule successfully delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) early Sunday morning in a mission aimed at swapping crew members and bringing home two astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams — who have been stranded aboard for nearly nine months.

The Crew-10 astronauts’ journey began with a launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday evening. About 29 hours later, their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule docked with the ISS at 4:04 am GMT on Sunday. The docking marked the start of a routine crew rotation that has taken on added significance due to the extended stay of the NASA astronauts, who have been stuck on the station since a malfunction with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.

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The mission to retrieve Wilmore and Williams is long overdue. Originally, the two veteran astronauts and retired Navy test pilots were scheduled to return home months ago. However, technical problems with the Boeing Starliner capsule—intended to ferry them back — left NASA with no choice but to bring the spacecraft back to Earth empty, prolonging their stay in orbit. Since then, Wilmore and Williams have continued their work aboard the ISS, participating in scientific experiments and performing routine maintenance with the station’s other crew members.