A four-person crew entered the International Space Station early Sunday morning, part of a mission to relieve two astronauts who will now return to Earth after a protracted stay on the orbital base.
The arrival of the replacement crew means that NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore can now go home after more than 9 months in space. Their trip to the ISS in June was supposed to last just over a week, but it morphed into a much longer expedition when their Boeing Starliner spacecraft ran into technical problems and was sent back to Earth without a crew.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers — as well as Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov — floated through the ISS hatch at 1:35 a.m. ET. Sunday morning.
They were greeted with smiles and hugs by Williams, Wilmore and the other five astronauts aboard the space station.
Williams and Wilmore — along with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov — are set to depart the ISS for Earth no earlier than Wednesday, depending on weather conditions.
Boeing's experimental Starliner spacecraft launched on June 5 with Williams and Wilmore on board. But it suffered multiple helium leaks and some of its thrusters malfunctioned as it flew toward the ISS, so NASA officials decided to bring it back uncrewed.
The space agency announced in August that it would instead fold the two astronauts into the regular space station crew rotation, meaning a surprise monthslong extension of their voyage.
President Trump previously said the pair was "stranded" on the space station and asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to "go get" them, but NASA officials have said they intentionally kept Williams and Wilmore on the ISS for technical and budgetary reasons.
They are set to fly back to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon capsule that has been docked on the ISS since September, when it arrived with a reduced two-person crew in order to leave two seats empty for Williams' and Wilmore's return trip.
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