SpaceX capsule that will bring Boeing Starliner astronauts home has arrived at the space station

() –– After their weeklong trip turned into a months-long stay at the International Space Station, two Boeing Starliner astronauts are now within reach of the spacecraft that will eventually bring them home.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, chosen by NASA to carry astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth after their Starliner spacecraft was deemed too risky for the crew, has arrived at the space station. The vehicle, in a mission called Crew-9, docked at the ISS at approximately 5:30 pm ET on Sunday.

On board the SpaceX vehicle are NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Next to them are two empty seats, reserved for Williams and Wilmore to occupy when the group returns to Earth next year.

At 7:15 p.m. ET, the capsule’s hatch is expected to open, allowing Hague and Gorbunov to enter the space station. A welcome ceremony is scheduled to take place at that time with Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, Wilmore and the other seven crew members currently aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Hague and Gorbunov lifted off aboard Crew Dragon on Saturday afternoon from the Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida. Although they reached their intended orbit without problems, SpaceX later revealed that the second, or upper, stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that powered the first part of its journey experienced a problem after it detached from the capsule.

“Following the successful launch of Crew-9, the Falcon 9 second stage was jettisoned into the ocean as planned, but suffered an unusual deorbit burn,” the company shared in a statement. post on X. “As a result, the second stage landed safely in the ocean, but outside the planned area.”

SpaceX indicated it would temporarily suspend flights with the Falcon 9 (the most frequently launched rocket in the world) while it analyzes the anomaly. “We will resume launches after we better understand the root cause,” the company said in the X post.

has contacted the Federal Aviation Administration for comment.

Meanwhile, Crew-9’s SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule spent about a day traveling through orbit as it prepares to dock with the International Space Station. Once safely inserted into one of the station’s docking ports, the spacecraft will open its hatch, allowing Hague and Gorbunov to join the other astronauts already aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Together, Hague, Williams, Wilmore and Gorbunov will complete SpaceX’s Crew-9 team. The group will spend about five months aboard the space station before returning home.

Williams and Wilmore first traveled to the International Space Station in early June aboard a Boeing Starliner spacecraft for what was expected to be a week-long test mission.

But problems with helium leaks and faulty boosters left engineers scrambling to figure out what went wrong. NASA ultimately determined that the Starliner’s problems were not understood well enough for the space agency to allow Williams and Wilmore to return aboard.

The Starliner, however, returned home empty on September 6.

After deciding not to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth on the Starliner, NASA opted instead to rearrange SpaceX’s flight plans. He decided to pull two other astronauts (spaceflight veteran Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman, who was about to make her first trip to space) from the Crew-9 mission to make room for the Starliner team.

But that meant Williams and Wilmore would have to fulfill the duties of the original Crew-9 staff, which would involve months of routine work on the space station before their return trip.

Both Williams and Wilmore, veterans of previous missions to the space station, said they easily adjusted to the idea of ​​staying in space until next year, with Williams noting the microgravity environment as their “happy place.”

Completing the team currently aboard the International Space Station are Don Pettit and Aleksey Ovchinin, from NASA, and Ivan Vagner, from the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The three arrived at the space station aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft on September 11.

Pettit and Gorbunov traveled aboard spacecraft developed outside their home countries as part of a seat-swapping agreement between NASA and its Russian counterpart.