The highly anticipated arrival of SpaceX Dragon carrying Crew-9 was successfully concluded on September 29. The Dragon capsule docked at the International Space Station, and its two occupants were welcomed by those already on the station, including Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded there for months and will now return in February.
SpaceX Dragon arrives at the ISS
On September 29, SpaceX
Dragon Freedom successfully docked at the International Space Station (ISS) at 17:30 EDT while the station was 260 statute miles over Botswana. At 19:04, the hatch between the space station and the pressurized mating adapter was opened, allowing NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to enter the ISS.
A small welcome ceremony awaited the new arrivals, with other ISS occupants joining the occasion, including NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, Don Petitt, Butch Wilmore, and Sunita Williams, Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Grebenkin, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.
The mission was largely successful, with the Crew Dragon reaching the intended orbit without any issues. However, CNN reported that the upper portion of the Falcon 9 rocket reportedly experienced some issues after it broke away from the capsule.
Revised plan
The Crew-9 mission took off from Earth with two people aboard the SpaceX Dragon. However, the original plan was to carry four people, including spaceflight veteran Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman, for whom this would have been a first trip to space.
Photo: Keegan Barber | NASA
But in order to accommodate Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, two seats were left empty in the Dragon. CNN quotes Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, as saying,
“We talked a lot about what to do in terms of when to rotate them back down. When we look at the vehicles that we have ready — and the flights — it just made a lot of sense to rotate them back down with Crew-9 and have the two empty seats. Obviously the Crew-8 vehicle wasn’t the right time to bring them back down.”
Williams and Wilmore to return in February
Stich added that NASA’s next mission to the ISS will have a new capsule from SpaceX for Crew-10. It will be ready by February and that’s one of the reasons the current mission is scheduled for a February return. Stich said,
“We could schedule it a little shorter, but we’d have to have another vehicle ready. So when we worked with SpaceX, that next vehicle for Crew-10 that’s going to be in the February time frame, that’s a brand-new Dragon we’re trying to get ready.
“We’d like to fly that Dragon and space out the flights across the Dragons. And so really that’s the reason we’ll just keep Butch and Suni there a little longer.”
Williams and Wilmore reached the International Space Station in early June for what was originally supposed to be a weeklong mission. However, the 
Boeing
Starliner spacecraft that flew them there
developed some issues with helium leaks
and had to return to Earth empty.
With their extended stay at the ISS, Williams and Wilmore will carry out the duties of the original Crew-9 staff, including all the routine work at the station. However, thankfully, with the successful docking of the SpaceX Dragon, the countdown for their return to Earth has begun.