Daily Tribune
This screengrab made from a NASA livestream shows the SpaceX Dragon Crew-10 members (C, in dark blue) NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, clapping after entering the International Space Station flanked by NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, Nick Hague and Don Pettit and Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ochinin and Ivan Vagner, on 16 March 2025. The SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft carrying the four Crew-10 members docked to the International Space Station on 16 March at 12:04 a.m. EDT. Their arrival at the the ISS will enable the long-overdue departure from the ISS of NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The two former US Navy pilots have been stuck aboard the orbital lab since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.
NASA / AFP
SpaceX Crew Dragon docked with the International Space Station (ISS) Sunday and opened a hatch to reach astronauts that have been stranded for more than nine months.
The Crew Dragon astronauts were shown on live TV embracing and hugging their counterparts in zero gravity on the space station shortly after 0545 GMT.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck aboard the orbital lab since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.
What was meant to have been a days-long roundtrip for Wilmore and Williams has stretched past nine months.
That is significantly longer than the standard ISS rotation for astronauts of roughly six months.
But it is much shorter than the US space record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the ISS in 2023, or the world record held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 continuous days aboard the Mir space station.
Still, the unexpected nature of duo's prolonged stay away from their families — they had to receive additional clothing and personal care items because they hadn't packed enough — has garnered interest and sympathy.
