NASA's stuck astronauts welcome their newly arrived replacements to the space station

2025-03-16 06:57:00

Abstract: SpaceX's crewed spacecraft docked at the ISS, delivering replacement crew and enabling the return of stranded astronauts Wilmore & Williams. Their extended mission ends after delays, with return scheduled mid-March.

SpaceX's crewed spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, just over a day after its launch, bringing replacements for two NASA astronauts who were stranded there. This successful docking ensures the continuous operation of the space station and facilitates important research.

The four new crew members, hailing from the United States, Japan, and Russia, will spend the next few days learning the operational details of the space station from Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. This handover period is crucial for a smooth transition and maintaining the station's productivity.

Wilmore and Williams will then board their own SpaceX spacecraft later this week, concluding their unexpectedly extended mission that began last June. They were originally scheduled to stay for only a week during Boeing's first crewed flight.

Wilmore and Williams reached their nine-month stay limit on the space station earlier this month. Boeing's Starliner spacecraft encountered numerous issues, prompting NASA to insist it return empty, leaving the test pilots to await a SpaceX ride. Their "lift" arrived in late September, carrying two astronauts and reserving two empty seats for the return journey.

However, further delays arose due to extensive battery repairs needed on the brand-new spacecraft carrying the replacements. An older spacecraft took its place, pushing Wilmore and Williams' return back several weeks to mid-March. Weather permitting, the SpaceX spacecraft carrying Wilmore, Williams, and the other two astronauts is scheduled to undock from the space station as early as Wednesday and splash down off the coast of Florida.