SpaceX Dragon docks with ISS as countdown begins to rescue stranded astronauts  

Efforts to bring back NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months, are advancing after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a rescue mission on Friday. The astronauts were originally transported to the ISS aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June last year, but technical failures forced the vehicle to return to Earth unmanned in September. 

The rescue mission follows public calls from US President Donald Trump to expedite their return, criticising the former President Joe Biden administration for delays. Trump stated that he had authorised Elon Musk to facilitate their return. NASA and SpaceX have not provided an official timeline but confirmed that safety assessments are ongoing.

Meanwhile, a separate SpaceX Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS early Sunday, carrying four new crew members as part of NASA’s Crew-10 mission. The spacecraft, carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, arrived at 12:04 am EDT while orbiting 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.

Following docking, standard pressurisation and leak checks were conducted before the hatch was scheduled to open around 1:45 am EDT. The new arrivals join the Expedition 72 crew, which includes NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Don Pettit, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.

The Crew-10 astronauts will participate in scientific research and station maintenance before a scheduled handover period. Crew-9 members Hague, Williams, Wilmore, and Gorbunov will then return to Earth.