A SpaceX Dragon capsule has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) to bring back two astronauts who have been stranded there. The capsule docked at 17:30 Eastern Time (22:30 BST) and is set to return Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who had initially arrived at the ISS on Boeing’s Starliner capsule in June for an eight-day mission. Due to a fault discovered during their flight, they have had to remain on the station longer than anticipated, with plans now to return to Earth in February.
The Dragon capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday, carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. Hague and Gorbunov will join the ISS crew before taking Wilmore and Williams back home. The launch had been initially scheduled for Thursday but was postponed due to Hurricane Helene, which has caused significant destruction in the southeastern United States, including Florida.
The docking occurred while the ISS was flying 265 miles (426 km) above Botswana in southern Africa. Inside the ISS, footage showed Hague and Gorbunov smiling and taking photos with the crew following their arrival.
The original Starliner flight, which took off on June 5, marked Boeing’s first attempt to transport astronauts to the ISS. However, it encountered several issues during the flight, including helium leaks in its propulsion system and problems with its thrusters. After extensive investigations by engineers at Boeing and NASA, it was determined in late August that it would not be safe to bring Wilmore and Williams back on the Starliner.
Boeing’s Starliner had already faced delays over several years due to setbacks during development and issues identified in uncrewed test flights conducted in 2019 and 2022. Since NASA retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011, the agency has relied on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft for transport to and from the ISS.
Having two American companies to perform the missions has been a key goal of the agency’s for some time, and in 2014 Boeing and SpaceX were awarded contracts worth $4.2bn (£3.2bn) and $2.6bn (£2bn) respectively.
In 2020, SpaceX – founded by billionaire Elon Musk – became the first private company to take astronauts to the ISS.
