A SpaceX crew on a rescue mission have arrived at the International Space Station, but it will still be some time before stranded Boeing Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams can return back to Earth.
On Monday, Sept. 30, crew members including NASA’s Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency’s Alexander Gorbunov arrived at the ISS and received a warm welcome from Wilmore and Williams, who have been at the ISS since June.
In a video shared to NASA’s Johnson Space Center X (formerly Twitter) account, the pair welcomed their “new compadres” and recounted how the crew members all exchanged hugs and warm welcomes upon their arrival.
“Alex and I had a smooth ride up here,” Hague said in the clip. “It was an awesome ride.”
“Coming through the hatch and seeing all the smiles, and as much as I’ve laughed and cried in the last 10 minutes, I know it’s going to be an amazing expedition, so I’m really looking forward to getting to work up here,” he added.
Although the Dragon’s takeoff over the weekend was successful, SpaceX said the rocket’s spent upper stage wound up outside its “targeted impact zone” in the Pacific Ocean after it experienced a bad engine firing, per the Associated Press. Other SpaceX launches have been halted to investigate the issue.
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SpaceX launched the Dragon capsule on Saturday, Sept. 29 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. with two empty seats on the vessel saved for Wilmore and Williams, according to the AP and NPR. The Dragon, along with Hague and Gorbunov, are set to remain at the ISS alongside Wilmore and Williams until February 2025.
The crew is set to conduct more than 200 science experiments and demonstrations during their stay at the ISS, NPR reported. The experiments will including studies about blood clotting, the effects of moisture on plants grown in space and astronauts’ vision can change in space.
According to AP, NASA officials said the crew wouldn’t be able to return any earlier than February without interrupting other scheduled missions.
Wilmore and Williams were originally intended to return on June 14, after they took off using Boeing’s Starliner vessel on June 5, but technical problems with the spacecraft including helium leaks and problems with the service module thrusters indefinitely delayed the pair’s return back to Earth.
Back in July, the pair gave an interview to CBS News about their hopes for their return back to Earth.
Williams said at the time she has “a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem.”
“But like Butch said, we’re learning now to optimize our specific situation and make sure that we know everything about it,” she continued, noting that if the pair “just came home” now they would lose some of the data they intend to obtain.
“I have confidence,” Williams added. “Butch has confidence. We’re here on the space station with our safe haven of Starliner.”
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