Sunita and Butch’s Replacement Crews Reach ISS
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 16: The stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore may have finally began the countdown for their return home after a replacement crew docked with the orbital outpost.
The astronauts were shown on live TV embracing and hugging their counterparts in zero gravity on the space station shortly after their SpaceX Crew Dragon arrived at 0545 GMT. Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been stuck aboard the ISS 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.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Elon Musk’s SpaceX have launched the long-awaited crew mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday to bring back astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stuck in space for over nine months after technical issues in their Starliner capsule.
On Sunday, the Crew-10 officially arrived at the ISS as SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully completed the docking process at 12:04 am ET (9:34 am Indian time). Just after completing the docking, Crew-10 received a welcome from an orbital sunrise.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 14 carrying four astronauts who will replace Wilmore and Williams. The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully docked at the ISS on Sunday and the hatch was opened shortly after the spacecraft conducted standard leak checks and pressurisation.
At 9:30 am IST, the spacecraft began its final approach after getting the go-ahead from the ISS crew for docking. The Crew Dragon spacecraft has completed rendezvous and the docking sequence was completed at around 9:40 am IST, with the ISS crew welcoming the new NASA astronauts. The spacecraft was prepped for hatch opening at the ISS, which took place over an hour afterwards.
The hatch was opened at approximately 1:35 am ET (11:05 am Indian time), after which the Crew Dragon astronauts entered the space station and were seen embracing and hugging their counterparts of the Expedition 72 crew in zero gravity. The Crew-9 is expected to deliver their farewell remarks soon.
The stranded astronauts – Williams and Wilmore – would be replaced by four astronauts who boarded SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket – Cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos of Russia, Pilot Nichole Ayers and Commander Anne McClain of US, and Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi of Japan’s JAXA.
The old crew welcomed the Crew-10 astronauts who will take their place at the space station. The four newcomers from the US, Russia and Japan will spend the next few days learning the station’s ins and outs from the duo before the latter return home.
The four new astronauts thanked NASA and SpaceX for the journey. “Crew-10 has had a great journey up about 28 hours to get back up to the space station and I cannot tell you the immense joy of our crew when we looked out the window and saw the space station for the first time,” said McClain.
“From the bottom of my heart, thanks to our families, friends and our colleagues, from all the partners, NASA, SpaceX, CSA, ISSA, Roscosmos and JAXA for preparing us and making it possible for us to get here,” said Takuya. “We are so excited to be part of Expedition 72.”
The Crew-10 is expected to stay at the ISS for six months, increasing the total number of astronauts on the ISS to 11. Williams and Wilmore are scheduled to depart on Wednesday as early as 4 am ET (1:30 pm IST), and make their way back to Earth after their trip to space, which was initially meant for only eight days, stretched on for over nine months. They will be accompanied with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who flew on a Crew Dragon craft.
Otherwise a routine crew rotation flight, the Crew–10 mission is a long-awaited first step to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth – part of a plan set by NASA last year that has been given greater urgency by US President Donald Trump since he took office in January.
Elon Musk had earlier said SpaceX had offered a dedicated Dragon mission for the pair last year as NASA mulled ways to bring the two back to Earth. However, NASA officials said two astronauts have had to remain on the ISS to maintain adequate staffing levels. Dragon is designed to dock autonomously, but the crew aboard the spacecraft and the space station will monitor as it approaches and docks to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.
Sunita and Wilmore’s prolonged stay was 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 their stint away from their families — they had to receive additional clothing and personal care items because they hadn’t packed enough — garnered interest and sympathy around the world. Wilmore and Williams will now begin preparing for departure and their ocean splashdown off the Florida coast, no sooner than March 19. Along with the pair, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will also be aboard the returning Dragon capsule.
