SpaceX Crew-10 docks at ISS, Sunita Williams & Wilmore to return soon
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New York: SpaceX's Crew-10 mission has successfully docked at the International Space Station (ISS), bringing hope for the return of two NASA astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stuck in orbit for months.
The space capsule, launched on Friday from Texas, arrived at the ISS at 12:05 a.m. EST (9:35 am IST) and took about 28.5 hours to travel from Earth to the ISS.
The spacecraft carried four astronauts—Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers from NASA, Takuya Onishi from Japan's JAXA, and Kirill Peskov from Russia's Roscosmos.
The Crew-10 astronauts will spend the next few days acclimating to the International Space Station (ISS) and working alongside NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore.
The Crew-10 astronauts will enter the ISS after 1:05 a.m. EST, where they'll be greeted by astronaut Butch Wilmore.
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stuck on the ISS since June due to Boeing Starliner technical issues.
Their return was initially set after an eight-day mission, but technical issues delayed their trip home.
Plans to send them back after Crew-9's arrival in August were also scrapped due to the lack of an emergency escape pod.
Now, with Crew-10 successfully docked, Williams and Wilmore will finally get a chance to return to Earth along with Crew-9.
SpaceX's Crew-10 mission launched successfully on Friday, after a postponement from Wednesday due to a technical issue with a ground support clamp arm on the rocket.
According to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, their return flight is expected to begin in the coming days.
The Crew-10 mission is now back on track after the delay, paving the way for the eagerly anticipated return of stranded astronauts Williams and Wilmore, which is now just around the corner.
Earlier, the astronaut duo was scheduled to return to Earth by the end of March, but it was preponed after US President Donald Trump urged SpaceX Musk to bring them back early.
(inputs from IANS)