The crew aboard a SpaceX rocket sent to retrieve two astronauts who have been stranded in space for nine months were greeted by an ‘alien’ as they docked at the International Space Station (ISS).
NASA astronaut Nick Hague, who was already aboard the ISS, gave the incoming crew an extraterrestrial welcome by donning an alien mask for their arrival.
The Falcon 9 rocket successfully took off Friday night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, on a mission to deliver four new astronauts to the ISS and bring home stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore.
The pair have been stranded in orbit since June 5, with SpaceX owner Elon Musk and others claiming they were left on the ISS for political reasons, although this has been refuted by the astronauts.
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They are aboard the ISS with NASA astronauts Hague and Don Pettit and Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Aleksandr Gorbunov.
The incoming Crew-10 is composed of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Pesko. The two crews were seen joyfully embracing as they boarded the ISS just after 1:40am ET on Sunday.
The Dragon capsule docked at the ISS just after 12:04am ET after a more than 28 hour journey.
It is hoped that Williams and Wilmore will be able to begin their return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon Capsule as early as Wednesday, along with Hague and Gorbunov, after spending a few days showing their incoming colleagues the ropes.
The crew aboard a SpaceX rocket sent to retrieve two astronauts who have been stranded in space for nine months were greeted by an ‘alien’ as they docked at the International Space Station
NASA astronaut Nick Hague, who was already aboard the ISS, gave the incoming crew an extraterrestrial welcome by donning an alien mask for their arrival
The Dragon capsule docked at 12:04am ET on Sunday following a 28 hour journey
It is hoped that Williams and Wilmore will be able to begin their return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon Capsule as early as Wednesday
There were joyful scenes as the incoming Crew-10 arrived to the ISS and was greeted by those already on board
Crew-10 includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan ‘s Takuya Onishi, and Russia ‘s Kirill Pesko (seen in blue jumpsuits)
Williams and Wilmore were expected to be in orbit for eight days, but the Boeing Starliner capsule which delivered them to the ISS encountered so many problems that NASA insisted it come back empty, leaving its test pilots behind to wait for a SpaceX lift.
The new crew will spend the next six months at the space station, which is considered the normal stint.
Their arrival comes after several setbacks for the relief mission, the most recent of which saw the flight scrapped at the eleventh hour on Wednesday, due to a hydraulic system issue with the Falcon 9 rocket.
NASA had moved up the return mission by two weeks after after President Trump told Musk to ‘go get’ Williams and Wilmore.
Before the president’s request, the astronauts were not coming back earlier than March 26.
‘It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us,’ Williams said of her family.
The mission became a flashpoint during the election after Trump and Musk claimed the astronauts had been left languishing in space for political reasons.
Musk said he offered to bring the astronauts home eight months ago, but the Biden Administration shot it down because it would’ve made Trump ‘look good’ in the presidential race against former vice president Kamala Harris.
The hatch was opened after carrying out ‘extensive’ pressurizing and leak check procedures
The crew were see n anxiously awaiting the new arrivals near the docking hatch
NASA ‘s beleaguered mission to rescue two stranded astronauts finally successfully launched on Friday
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were original scheduled for an eight-day mission, but were forced to stay after technical issues plagued the Boeing’s Starliner that brought them to the ISS
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission will replace Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, and two other astronauts aboard the International Space Station with four new crewmembers
Commander and NASA astronaut, Barry “Butch” E. Wilmore (R) is a step closer to being reunited with his wife and daughters. Pictured: The family in 2016
Sunita Williams (R) with her family. She will hopefully be returning home to them soon, as well as her husband Michael
During a recent press briefing, Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of the NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, admitted that there ‘may have been conversations’ in the Biden White House about delaying the return for political optics of having Trump’s most famous donor save the day, but he was not part of the discussions.
The Crew-10 launch occurred as Wilmore and Williams were asleep in their daily schedule on the station, Dina Contellam deputy manager of NASA’s ISS program, told reporters after the launch.
Having seen their mission turn into a normal NASA rotation to the ISS, Wilmore and Williams have been doing scientific research and conducting routine maintenance with the other five astronauts.
Williams told reporters earlier this month that she was looking forward to returning home to see her two dogs and family including her husband Michael and mom Bonnie.
Wilmore has two teenage daughters who he shares with wife Deanna.
‘We’ve had so many changes and it’s a bit mentally exhausting,’ his daughter Daryn told E! News about the ongoing saga.