CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, USA (AP) — Just one day after launching, a crew capsule from SpaceX arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday with replacements for the two NASA astronauts who were stranded at the orbital outpost.
The four newcomers — representing the United States, Japan, and Russia — will spend the next few days learning the ins and outs of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams' station. Afterwards, the two will secure themselves in their own SpaceX capsule later this week, one that has been there since last year, to conclude an extended and unexpected mission that began last June.
Why did Wilmore and Williams get stranded in space?
Wilmore and Williams were expecting to be out for just one week when they made Boeing’s first astronaut flight. They reached the nine-month mark earlier this month.
The Boeing Starliner capsule encountered so many issues that NASA insisted on its return empty, leaving its test pilots behind to wait for a SpaceX launch.
Their transport arrived at the end of September with a reduced crew of two and two empty seats reserved for the return journey. However, further delays occurred when the new capsule for their replacements needed extensive battery repairs. An older capsule took its place, pushing back their return by a couple of weeks until mid-March.
If the weather allows, the SpaceX capsule carrying Wilmore, Williams, and two other astronauts will undock from the space station no later than Wednesday and will land off the coast of Florida.