Crew Dragon spacecraft arrives at International Space Station to relieve stranded astronauts

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were due to return to Earth last June, but were prevented from doing so by a technical problem with the Starliner spacecraft.

Crew members of the Crew Dragon spacecraft on the ISS.AFP

Published by

Carlos Dominguez

March 16, 2025

1 minute read

Topics:

SpaceX

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft arrived Sunday at the International Space Station (ISS) to relieve astronauts that were trapped for more than nine months, live-streamed images showed.

Shortly after 12:04 a.m. ET, television aired images of the Crew Dragon astronauts embracing their counterparts on the space station.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stranded on the International Space Station last June because of a technical problem with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that had brought them and was scheduled to bring them back to Earth.

This undated handout picture from Nasa released on July2, 2024 shows NASAs Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Stations Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. - The first astronauts to fly Boeing's troubled Starliner are definitely not "stranded" at the International Space Station, NASA insisted on June 28, 2024 despite having no clear timeframe for bringing them home. In an unusually defensive press call, officials attempted to put a positive spin on where things currently stood after weeks of negative headlines due to the spaceship's delayed return. (Photo by Handout / NASA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NASA" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Updates

SpaceX launches a spacecraft to the International Space Station to bring home two stranded astronauts

Luis Francisco Orozco

Starliner, making its first manned flight, had thruster problems and was deemed unfit to bring them back.

What was supposed to be a trip lasting a few days turned into a nine-month stay for Wilmore and Williams, longer than the usual six-month rotations.

The space agency reported in a statement that "NASA and SpaceX met on Sunday to assess weather and splashdown conditions off Florida’s coast for the return of the agency’s Crew-9 mission from the International Space Station. Mission managers are targeting an earlier Crew-9 return opportunity based on favorable conditions forecasted for the evening of Tuesday, March 18."

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