NASA, Roscosmos to bring Sunita Williams home after extended ISS mission

NASA and Roscosmos completed a crucial mission on Sunday, with astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov docking the SpaceX Dragon capsule at the International Space Station (ISS).

The mission was launched to bring home NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been aboard the ISS since June 2024 following an extended stay.

Hague and Gorbunov arrived at the ISS after SpaceX launched the mission on Saturday, carrying supplies and two empty seats for Williams and Wilmore, whose planned short-term mission aboard Boeing's Starliner was extended to over eight months due to technical concerns. NASA determined in August that it was too risky to bring the astronauts back aboard the Starliner, which returned to Earth without them on September 6.

The docking, completed at 7:04 pm EDT, marks a significant milestone in what has been a prolonged effort to ensure the safe return of Williams and Wilmore. The pair are now scheduled to return to Earth in February 2025 aboard the same Crew Dragon spacecraft that Hague and Gorbunov used to reach the station.

For a brief period, the ISS crew count will rise to 11 until four Crew-8 members return to Earth in early October. The mission saw adjustments, including the removal of two Crew-9 astronauts to accommodate the returning Starliner astronauts, underscoring the complexities of managing long-duration space missions.