You might remember the story of the two astronauts on board the International Space Station that went for an 8 day mission, that was back in June 2024! Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stranded there ever since but their ride home has just arrived at the ISS. A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov has just docked so that the two can join the Expedition 72 crew already on board. There are now 11 people on boar the ISS but the Crew-9 capsule will return in February carrying Wilmore and Williams finally back home.
Being stranded in space sounds like the stuff of nightmares but the reality is a little more mundane….if space travel can ever be classed as mundane! The two astronauts living this reality, Wilmore and Williams have been stuck on board the ISS as a result of thruster problems on the trouble stricken Starliner capsule. Tests were completed, analysis undertaken but the module was autonomously returned home for further tests without the risk to an onboard crew.
International Space Station. Credit: NASAEnter the Dragon capsule. Developed by SpaceX, the state of the art spacecraft was designed to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS. It’s been a key part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and has been a significant development in the private space sector. One of the key features of the capsule is in its automation, not requiring any pilot to complete its journey but it, if needed, be controlled manually. Somewhat more reliably than the Starliner, the Dragon capsule safely docked and its hatch opened at 7.04pm EDT (23:04 GMT.)
The Dragon capsule is launched into low Earth orbit by the Falcon 9 rocket. The two stage rocket was also developed by Space X and has operated reliably since its first launch in June 2010. Together with the Dragon capsule, they can deliver crewed and uncrewed missions into low Earth orbit.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched from Launch Complex 39A on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard, Saturday, May 30, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceX’s crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)The occupants of the Dragon, Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov joined the 9 existing crew members of the Expedition 72 crew. The astronauts on board are Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, Don Petitt, Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams and cosmonauts Alexander Grebenkin, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.
Assuming all goes to plan, Wilmore and Williams will return back with the Dragon capsule in February turning their 8 day mission to an 8 month mission! Fingers crossed for them.
