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SpaceX‘s Crew Dragon capsule successfully opened its hatch to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, bringing relief to Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore who have been stranded in orbit for over nine months.
The Crew Dragon astronauts were seen on live television embracing their counterparts in zero gravity.
Crew-10 team arrives at ISS
The Crew-10 team, consisting of Nasa astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, has arrived at the ISS to replace astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded since their mission last June.
The Crew-10 team will spend the next several days acclimating to the ISS and taking over the responsibilities of Williams and Wilmore. The two astronauts had expected to return to Earth after a brief stay but have remained in orbit for nearly nine months due to technical delays with their return capsule.
Extended stay on the space station
Williams and Wilmore had originally launched with Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which faced numerous issues during its maiden flight, leaving the astronauts stranded longer than expected. The delays were further compounded when their replacement capsule underwent extensive battery repairs, pushing back their return by several weeks.
The Crew-10 team’s arrival marks the beginning of the final phase of the extended mission for Williams and Wilmore, who are scheduled to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX capsule later this week.
The road ahead
With the successful docking of Crew Dragon and the handover of duties, Nasa and its international partners are focused on completing the return mission of the stranded astronauts. The Crew-10 team will continue their work aboard the ISS while preparations for the homecoming of Williams and Wilmore are underway.
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