CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station since June welcomed their new ride home with the arrival of a SpaceX capsule on Sunday.
SpaceX launched the rescue mission on Saturday, sending a crew of two astronauts with two empty seats designated for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who are scheduled to return to Earth next year.
The Dragon capsule docked in the early hours of the morning, as both spacecraft flew 265 miles (426 kilometers) above Botswana.
NASA reassigned Wilmore and Williams to SpaceX due to safety concerns with their Boeing Starliner capsule. After the first Starliner crewed test flight, thruster failures and helium leaks were detected, leading NASA to decide the issues were too serious to risk the astronauts’ return. As a result, the Starliner returned to Earth without a crew earlier this month.
The Dragon capsule, carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, will stay at the space station until February, extending what was meant to be a weeklong trip for Wilmore and Williams into an eight-month mission.
