SpaceX’s mission to bring two stranded astronauts back home has arrived in space safely.
Nasa’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were left stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) back in June after it was decided it was too risky to bring them home on their Boeing-built Starliner.
The Starliner was plagued with problems including thruster trouble and helium loss, so despite Boeing insisting the capsule was safe, Nasa erred on the side of caution and it returned to Earth empty.
The mission, called Crew-9, took off just after 1pm on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch was delayed by two days as Hurricane Helene swept across the US and threatened safety.
Normally, routine trips taking astronauts to and from the ISS under Nasa’s Commercial Crew Program would be at full capacity – but the outbound leg of this mission is only carrying two astronauts instead of four.
Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are on their way to space on SpaceX’s ninth Commercial Crew Program flight, with the two empty seats reserved for Suni and Butch when Crew-9 returns to Earth.
Nasa’s Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman were kicked off the mission to make space for Suni and Butch to come home. It would have been Zena’s first trip to space and she was set to command the mission.
Speaking on X after the announcement, Zena said: ‘Handing the helm to Nick is both heartbreaking and an honor. Nick and Alex are truly an excellent team, and they will be ready to step up.
‘I only wish Stephanie, Nick, Alex, and I could fly together, but we choose without hesitation to be part of something much larger than ourselves. Ad astra per aspera. Go Crew 9.’
So what happens next?
What should have been a fairly quick trip for Suni and Butch has turned into a months-long ordeal. While SpaceX’s mission arrived at the ISS this weekend, its return trip bringing the stranded astronauts back to Earth won’t take place until February 2025.
The capsule linked up with the ISS on Sunday, CNN reports, which marks the start of another phase of waiting for Suni and Butch until they can return to Earth.
When asked if he was finding the wait difficult, Butch said: ‘I’m not gonna fret over it. I mean, there’s no benefit to it at all. So my transition was — maybe it wasn’t instantaneous — but it was pretty close.’
Suni said she was disappointed to miss some family events this year, but added: ‘This is my happy place. I love being up here in space. It’s just fun.
‘You know, every day you do something that’s work, quote, unquote, you can do it upside down. You can do it sideways, so it adds a little different perspective.’
By that point, although they will have spent eight months in space, both astronauts have said they are ‘grateful’ for the extra time on board the ISS.
Butch said in September: ‘We are pushing the edges of the envelope in everything that we do. And it is not easy. It’s not an easy thing to do, but that’s not why we do it. Maybe we do it because it’s hard.’
Suni added: ‘We’re both navy. We’ve both been on deployments. We’re not surprised when deployments get changed.’
In the meantime, the two will keep working as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew.
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