September 30th 2024.
After a week of traveling, two Boeing Starliner astronauts found themselves staying on the International Space Station for much longer than expected. However, their wait for a ride back to Earth is finally over as the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule has arrived at the space station.
NASA had chosen the Crew Dragon to bring astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth, after their own Starliner spacecraft was deemed too risky for a crew. The Crew Dragon, on a mission called Crew-9, successfully docked at the ISS on Sunday at around 5:30 p.m. ET.
The capsule was carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, along with two empty seats reserved for Williams and Wilmore. The hatch of the capsule opened at about 7:04 p.m. ET, allowing Hague and Gorbunov to enter the space station. A welcome ceremony was held shortly after, with all seven members of the current crew present.
Hague and Gorbunov had launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday afternoon. While their journey to the intended orbit went smoothly, SpaceX later reported an issue with the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that powered their initial journey. The second stage landed safely in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area. As a result, SpaceX has decided to pause flights using the Falcon 9 as they investigate the issue.
The astronauts on board the Crew Dragon, along with Hague and Gorbunov, will now make up the Crew-9 team and spend approximately five months on the space station before returning to Earth in February. Williams and Wilmore were initially supposed to return after a week-long test mission on the Starliner, but due to technical issues, they were unable to come back. NASA then rearranged SpaceX's flight plans to include the Starliner team, causing two other astronauts to be removed from the Crew-9 mission.
The decision to keep Williams and Wilmore on the space station for a full crew rotation was based on spacecraft availability and ISS needs. According to NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich, it made sense to rotate them back with Crew-9 and keep the two empty seats for the next mission, which will involve a new capsule.
Both Williams and Wilmore, who have previously been on missions to the space station, have adjusted well to the idea of staying in space until next year. They have expressed their love for the microgravity environment, with Williams even calling it her "happy place."
The current crew on the space station also includes NASA's Don Pettit, Aleksey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner from the Russian space agency Roscosmos, who arrived on a Russian Soyuz vehicle on September 11. Pettit and Gorbunov were able to ride on spacecraft from other countries as part of an agreement between NASA and Russia.
Overall, while their journey may have turned into a months-long stay, Williams and Wilmore are excited to continue their work on the space station before returning to Earth next year. They join the other crew members in conducting important research and experiments in the unique environment of space.
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