Two astronauts who have been stranded at the International Space Station (ISS) since June received a much-anticipated lifeline with the arrival of a SpaceX capsule on Sunday.
SpaceX launched the rescue mission on Saturday, sending a Dragon capsule with a reduced crew of two astronauts—NASA’s Nick Hague and Alexander Gorbunov from the Russian Space Agency—while leaving two empty seats for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who are scheduled to return home next year.
The Dragon capsule successfully docked in darkness, soaring 265 miles (426 kilometers) above Botswana. NASA made the decision to switch Wilmore and Williams to SpaceX’s Dragon following safety concerns regarding their Boeing Starliner capsule. During the Starliner’s first crewed test flight, issues such as thruster failures and helium leaks emerged shortly after liftoff. NASA deemed these problems too serious and insufficiently understood to risk the test pilots’ safe return, leading to the Starliner returning to Earth empty earlier this month.
The Dragon capsule will remain attached to the ISS until February, extending what was originally intended to be a weeklong trip for Wilmore and Williams into an extended mission lasting more than eight months.
