Elon’s SpaceX Delivers Another Win – NASA’s Stranded Crew Finally Coming Home [WATCH]

A SpaceX capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) early Sunday, delivering four astronauts and clearing the way for two NASA astronauts who have been stranded in space for nine months to finally return to Earth.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who originally launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft last June for what was supposed to be a short-term mission, have remained on the ISS due to technical issues with their spacecraft.

With the arrival of the Crew-10 team, the long-delayed return of Wilmore and Williams is now scheduled for later this week.

SpaceX Dragon docks with Space Station
pic.twitter.com/nQMLO1U9gP

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 16, 2025

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The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the Crew-10 astronauts docked with the ISS at 12:04 a.m. on Sunday.

The crew had launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday at 7:03 p.m., spending about 29 hours in transit before reaching the station.

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The newly arrived astronauts include NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.

All the hugs.

The hatch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft opened March 16 at 1:35 a.m. ET and the members of Crew-10 entered the @Space_Station with the rest of their excited Expedition 72 crew. pic.twitter.com/mnUddqPqfr

— NASA’s Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) March 16, 2025

The four will spend the next several days familiarizing themselves with ISS operations under the guidance of Wilmore and Williams before beginning their own six-month mission aboard the station.

Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to depart the ISS on Wednesday, along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

The four will return to Earth using a separate SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that has been attached to the station since last year.

Their journey back will conclude with a splashdown off the coast of Florida.

Hague and Gorbunov initially arrived at the ISS in September on a Crew Dragon spacecraft that had two empty seats designated for Wilmore and Williams.

That spacecraft has remained docked at the ISS, awaiting their departure.

Watch the @SpaceX #Crew10 members enter the space station and join the Exp 72 crew for a long-duration space research mission. https://t.co/WHpxBz51Ts https://t.co/WHpxBz51Ts

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) March 16, 2025

The mission delay stemmed from complications with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which was meant to carry Wilmore and Williams back to Earth shortly after their initial arrival.

With no safe return vehicle available, the astronauts remained on board, assisting with routine maintenance and conducting scientific research.

Williams, speaking earlier this month, expressed her anticipation about returning home after the extended stay.

“It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us,” she said, referring to her family. She added that she was eager to reunite with her loved ones and her two dogs.

Former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao discussed the Crew-10 docking process during an appearance on Fox News Channel, emphasizing the complexity of the operation.

“This is not like the movies. You don’t just kind of dock and then open the hatches … it’s going to take a while to do all the leak checks, let everything come to thermal equilibrium to make sure any pressure fluctuations are only due to temperature changes,” he explained.

He described the mission so far as “completely flawless” and noted that Wilmore and Williams would soon conduct a full handover of station operations before boarding their spacecraft to return home.

“So this looks like a completely flawless, successful mission so far,” Chiao said.

“And of course, Suni and Butch are looking forward to, you know, taking them around, doing the handover and then getting in their spacecraft with their crew and coming back down to Earth in the next few days.”

With the arrival of Crew-10 and their scheduled transition period, Wilmore and Williams’ return is expected to proceed as planned, marking the end of a prolonged mission that began as a short-term stay but turned into a nine-month wait in orbit.

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