Latest developments in the mission to rescue two astronauts stranded in space

(Dan Tri) - Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore could not hide their joy when they met the crew coming to "rescue".

The moment the four SpaceX Crew-10 crew members were greeted right after the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft connected to the International Space Station (Video: NASA).

Qualify to "go home"

On March 16, SpaceX's Crew-10 mission Endurance successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) after a 28-hour orbital flight.

Previously, the Endurance spacecraft was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida (USA) in the early morning of March 15.

According to information from NASA, the Endurance spacecraft docked with the ISS's Harmony module at 11:04 a.m. on March 16 (Hanoi time) at an altitude of 418 km above Earth.

The Crew-10 crew consists of four members, including commander Anne McClain and pilot Nichole Ayers from NASA, mission specialist Takuya Onishi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Kirill Peskov from the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos).

After docking, the Crew-10 crew waited about an hour and a half for pressure to equalize, then officially entered the space laboratory.

It is known that the Crew-10 crew will stay at the ISS to replace those from the Crew-9 mission and astronauts from Boeing's Starliner mission.

This is also the reason why the Crew-10 mission attracted media attention, as it was considered the premise for the "rescue mission" for the two astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were trapped due to a thruster failure of the Starliner spacecraft last June.

Countdown to the rescue of 2 stranded travelers

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will return to Earth after 9 months stuck at the ISS (Photo: NASA).

Initially, the two astronauts were only expected to stay for eight days and return to Earth on the same ship that brought them into orbit. However, technical problems with the Starliner caused NASA to decide not to use the ship to carry people, leading to their "stranding".

To date, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been reluctantly staying on the ISS for more than 9 months.

As scheduled, on March 19, they will return to Earth with two astronauts Nick Hague (NASA) and Aleksandr Gorbunov (Roscosmos), who arrived at the ISS last September on the Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft.

The ship remained docked outside the ISS and had two empty seats available for Williams and Wilmore.

Meanwhile, the Crew-10 crew will continue to conduct scientific research and maintain the space station's systems for the next six months.

The Crew-10 mission is a key part of NASA’s Commercial Spaceflight Partnership program, confirming SpaceX’s role in transporting crews to the ISS. At the same time, the mission also demonstrates the close coordination between NASA, JAXA and Roscosmos in maintaining a human presence in space.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/khoa-hoc/dien-bien-moi-nhat-su-menh-giai-cuu-2-phi-hanh-gia-mac-ket-ngoai-vu-tru-20250317184617532.htm