The Dragon spacecraft has already arrived at the International Space Station to deliver the trapped astronauts.
The Dragon spacecraft, owned by SpaceX and NASA’s Crew-9 crew mission, managed to successfully dock this Sunday afternoon at the International Space Station (ISS) with the goal of returning astronauts Sunee Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were trapped in the facility. in early June after their ship suffered a series of malfunctions.
“NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday when the SpaceX Dragon Freedom docked with the orbital complex at 5:30 p.m. ET,” the International Space Station said in a statement.
As a reminder, Williams and Wilmore arrived on the ISS in June and were originally planning to return in September after conducting several experiments. about the effects of space on living things and to develop more effective technologies and treatments for future space missions.
However, after an internal review of Starliner’s failures, where Helium leaks and malfunctions found in five enginesNASA executives decided that Starliner would return to Earth empty within avoid any disasters that could endanger the lives of astronauts.
And since flying up and down from space is neither an easy nor cheap task. Spaceship seats are numbered and flights are very limited. This forced a search for solutions to return both astronauts to Earth, and Elon Musk became an unexpected savior.
Obviously, the tycoon is not going to go into space, but the ship will SpaceX Crew Dragon, which shoots them downmaking Williams and Wilmore the two new members of the Expedition 72 crew. SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission was originally scheduled for August 18th, but they delayed it until now, and The number of crew members was reduced from four to two.with the aim of leaving two free places for the landing of these astronauts.
Although they are rescuers, they are not going to immediately descend to Earth, since The astronauts of the Space X Dragon ship will have to complete the corresponding missions which forced them to go to the ISS.
Therefore it is believed that Williams and Wilmore will not return to our planet until February 2025. to be reunited with his loved ones eight months after takeoff from Space Launch Center 41 at Cape Canaveral Station in Florida, USA.
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