NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov entered the International Space Station (ISS) shortly after opening the hatches between the space station and the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at 11:05 AM, Indian Time.
They were welcomed by the Expedition 72 crew, including NASA astronauts Indian-American Sunita Williams, Nick Hague, Don Petitt, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.
Earlier, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which launched from Texas on Friday, reached the ISS at 9:35 AM, Indian Time. With this mission, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are just one step away from earth as they will soon travel back to home, after been stranded in the orbit for nine months.
Wilmore and Williams originally planned a one-week mission when they launched aboard Boeing’s first astronaut flight. However, after the Boeing Starliner capsule faced numerous issues, NASA decided the capsule should return empty, leaving the test pilots behind to wait for a SpaceX lift.
If weather permits, the SpaceX capsule carrying Wilmore, Williams and two other astronauts will undock from the space station not earlier than Wednesday and splash down off Florida’s coast.
