SpaceX capsule for stranded astronauts docks at space station By Reuters

(Reuters) – A SpaceX Crew Dragon space capsule set to bring stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home next year arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, according to NASA and SpaceX.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov boarded the ISS shortly after the Dragon capsule docked with the station at 2130 GMT, NASA said in a post on X.

The SpaceX Crew-9 mission was supposed to carry four astronauts to the ISS until two empty seats had to be opened for Wilmore and Williams after the Boeing (NYSE: ) Starliner capsule they arrived in June was deemed unfit to return them to Earth. .

The two former military test pilots have been stuck on the ISS ever since after the Starliner capsule suffered propellant malfunctions and helium leaks. NASA has decided it is not safe for astronauts to return to the Starliner, which was sent back to Earth empty earlier this month.

Wilmore and Williams, who were the first crew to fly the troubled Starliner, are set to return home with Hague and Gorbunov on Crew Dragon next February, as what was supposed to be an 8-day mission turned into a 8 day mission. -trial month.