WATCH Dragon’s Arrival: Stranded NASA Astronauts Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore Get Return Vehicle At Space Station

The Dragon carrying NASA's Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov will remain at the space station until February, turning what should have been a weeklong trip for Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore into a mission lasting more than eight months. 

Two NASA astronauts were pulled from the mission to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return leg. 

Welcome, #Crew9! After floating through the Dragon’s hatch, our new arrivals join the crew aboard the @Space_Station. They’ll spend five months conducting @ISS_Research and maintenance on the orbiting lab. pic.twitter.com/DJX7f9vxlg — NASA (@NASA) September 29, 2024

NASA likes to replace its station crews every six months or so. SpaceX has provided the taxi service since the company's first astronaut flight in 2020. NASA also hired Boeing for ferry flights after the space shuttles were retired, but flawed software and other Starliner issues led to years of delays and more than USD 1 billion in repairs. 

Starliner inspections are underway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, with post-flight reviews of data set to begin this week. 

LIVE: Our #Crew9 mission arrives at the @Space_Station. Docking of their @SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft is expected at 5:30pm ET (2130 UTC), with hatch opening at approximately 7:15pm ET (2315 UTC). https://t.co/ALa6kUF98N — NASA (@NASA) September 29, 2024

"We're a long way from saying, 'Hey, we're writing off Boeing'," NASA's associate administrator Jim Free said at a pre-launch briefing. 

With the arrival of two new astronauts, the four crew members who have been aboard the space station since March are set to return to Earth in just over a week aboard their SpaceX capsule. Their return was delayed by a month due to complications with the Boeing Starliner capsule.

(With inputs from AP)