NASA’s astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, stranded for over nine months on the International Space Station, got a step closer to returning home on Sunday after a replacement crew docked with the orbital outpost.
The astronauts were shown on live TV embracing and hugging their counterparts in zero gravity on the space station shortly after their SpaceX Crew Dragon arrived at 0545 GMT.
Wilmore swung open the space station's hatch and then rang the ship's bell as the new arrivals floated in one by one and were greeted with hugs and handshakes.
William said it was a "wonderful day" and "great to see our friends arrive," speaking shortly after her colleges emerged onto the orbital lab.
The four newcomers — representing the US, Japan and Russia — will spend the next few days learning the station's ins and outs from Wilmore and Williams.
Also read: SpaceX launches replacement crew for stuck NASA astronauts
Wilmore and Williams have been stuck aboard the ISS since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.
Then the two will strap into their own SpaceX capsule later this week, one that has been up there since last year, to close out an unexpected extended mission that began last June.
Wilmore's and Williams' ride arrived back in late September with a downsized crew of two and two empty seats reserved for the leg back. But more delays resulted when their replacements' brand-new capsule needed extensive battery repairs. An older capsule took its place, pushing up their return by a couple of weeks to mid-March.
Weather permitting, the SpaceX capsule carrying Wilmore, Williams and two other astronauts will undock from the space station no earlier than Wednesday and splash down off Florida's coast. Until then, there will be 11 aboard the orbiting lab.
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