A SpaceX capsule delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station early Sunday in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) crew-swap mission that provides a few regular astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, to return home after nine months at the Orbiting Lab.
About 29 hours ago launch at. 19:03 one on Friday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was the herd-10 Astronauts’ SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule connected to ISS at. 12:04 A SUNDAY.
They were welcomed by the station’s crew of seven members who include Wilmore and Williams -Veteran NASA astronauts and retired Navy test pilots who have been at the station after problems with Boeing’s Starliner capsule forced NASA to bring it back empty.
Otherwise, a routine herd rotation flight, the Crew-10 mission is a long-awaited first step to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth-a part of a plan set by NASA last year that has gained greater speed by President Donald Trump since joining in January.
Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to leave ISS on Wednesday already at 04.
The Hague and Gorbunov flew to ISS in September on a crew driver with two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams, and that craftsmanship is attached to the station since.
The herd-10 crew, scheduled to stay at the station for about six months, includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
The crew-swap mission was tangled in politics when Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, who is also Spacex’s CEO, called for a faster crew-10 launch. They claimed without evidence that Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had left Wilmore and Williams at the station for political reasons.
After seeing their mission turn into a normal NASA rotation to ISS, Wilmore and Williams have conducted scientific research and performed routine maintenance with the other five astronauts.
Williams told journalists this month that she was looking forward to returning home to see her two dogs and family. “It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little more than for us,” she said.
