NASA and SpaceX launch capsule to pick up stranded astronauts: Watch it dock Sunday
It looks like Butch and Suni’s ride home is coming their way.
The two NASA astronauts – Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams – have been stuck on the International Space Station for almost four months due to problems with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that was supposed to return them to Earth after a disaster. only eight days.
But on Saturday, just after 10 a.m. PT, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the Dragon spacecraft that would eventually return Wilmore and Williams to Earth. (The Boeing Starliner returned home without a crew earlier this month, landing in New Mexico on September 6.)
The SpaceX Dragon features NASA astronaut Nick Haag and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Two other crew members were bumped off this mission, leaving a few seats empty for Butch and Suni’s return trip.
The plan is now for the two to return to Earth together with The Hague and Gorbunov in February 2025. In the meantime, they will work on research, maintenance and data analysis, and they also plan to vote from space in November’s presidential election. election.
Neither Wilmore nor Williams appear to have become restless during their unexpectedly extended stay. “It’s very peaceful here,” Williams said during a live press conference on September 20, although she added that the two miss their families back on Earth.
The Dragon will dock with the ISS on Sunday at 2:30 PM PT, with NASA reporting live from 1:30 PM PT of the rendezvous, docking and hatch opening. It will also broadcast the crew’s welcome ceremony once Hague and Gorbunov are on board the space station. You can look further NASA Pluson the agency’s website and on a variety of platformsincluding YouTube.
“This mission required a lot of operational and scheduling flexibility. I congratulate the entire team on a successful launch today, and good luck to Nick and Aleksandr as they make their way to the space station,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a news release Saturday.
“Our NASA wizards and our commercial and international partners have once again demonstrated the success that comes from working together and adapting to changing conditions without sacrificing the safe and professional operation of the International Space Station.”
