After months of uncertainty, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule. They were tasked with bringing back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who had been at the ISS since June 2024.
Upon their arrival, Hague and Gorbunov were greeted by the Expedition 72 crew, which included NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. SpaceX launched the rescue mission on Saturday, set to bring Williams and Wilmore home next year.
Hague and Gorbunov entered the ISS after opening the hatch between the space station and the pressurized mating adapter at 7:04 p.m. EDT, subsequently opening the hatch to the Dragon, according to a NASA statement. They were welcomed by the space station’s Expedition 72 crew, which included NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, Don Petitt, Butch Wilmore, and Sunita Williams, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Grebenkin, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.
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In a post on X, NASA’s Johnson Space Center wrote, “The official welcome! The Expedition 72 crew welcomed Crew 9, NASA astronauts Nick Hague, the Crew 9 commander, and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, the Crew 9 mission specialist, after their flight aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.”
The official welcome!
The Expedition 72 crew welcomed #Crew9, @NASAAstronauts Nick Hague, the Crew 9 commander and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, the crew 9 mission specialist, after their flight aboard the @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. pic.twitter.com/pOa8sTQWDo
— NASA’s Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) September 29, 2024
Notably, the number of crew aboard the space station will temporarily increase to 11 people until Crew-8 members Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin return to Earth in early October. On Saturday, SpaceX launched a reduced two-man crew to the ISS, carrying supplies and two empty seats for Starliner astronauts awaiting a return home in February after an unplanned eight-and-a-half-month stay in orbit, as reported by CBS News.
The launch was delayed by two days due to high winds, rain, and clouds associated with Hurricane Helene. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket finally ignited and lifted off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:17 pm EDT, following a north-easterly trajectory directly aligned with the ISS’s orbital plane.
Inside the Crew Dragon “Freedom,” Hague monitored the automated ascent alongside Gorbunov, who was on his maiden flight. Typically, Crew Dragons launch with four crew members; however, two Crew 9 astronauts—Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman—were removed from the mission in August to accommodate seats for Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Sunita Williams when Crew Dragon returns to Earth in February.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been at the ISS since June, having launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5 and arriving at the space station on June 6. A decision was made to return Starliner to Earth without its crew, and the spacecraft successfully returned on September 6 after NASA stated in August that it was “too risky” to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth.
Wilmore and Williams will continue their work as part of the expedition until February next year. This extension means what was initially planned as a week-long test flight has now stretched to around eight months. “Wilmore and Williams will continue their work formally as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew through February 2025. They will fly home aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Starliner is expected to depart from the space station and make a safe, controlled autonomous re-entry and landing in early September,” NASA had said in a statement.
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