WASHINGTON: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months, are finally a step closer to return home after SpaceX successfully launched a replacement crew.
On Friday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre at 7:03 p.m. ET (2303 GMT), carrying four astronauts as part of the Crew-10 mission. Their arrival paves the way for Wilmore and Williams to depart the ISS on Wednesday at 4 a.m. ET (0800 GMT), along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
Wilmore and Williams originally arrived at the ISS in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which encountered technical issues, leaving them unable to return as planned. NASA officials have since worked to arrange their safe return. Hague and Gorbunov, who arrived at the ISS in September via a Crew Dragon spacecraft, brought two empty seats designated for the stranded astronauts.
The Crew-10 team, which will now take over ISS duties for the next six months, includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. Their mission marks another milestone in NASA and SpaceX’s collaboration for space exploration and station operations.
As Wilmore and Williams prepare to leave, their extended stay highlights the challenges of space travel and the ongoing complexities of spacecraft reliability. Their upcoming return will finally bring an end to their unexpected mission extension.
