Live: NASA Crew-10 enters space station, welcomed with hugs and handshakes
Sunita Williams, who is stranded with Barry Wilmore on the ISS, will return to Earth after spending nine long months in space
The NASA-SpaceX Crew-10 mission has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) at 9.40 am IST on Sunday, March 16.
After an hour and 45 minutes, the SpaceX Crew-10 members then joined the station's Expedition 72 crew after the hatch was opened.
The Expedition 72 crew of NASA astronauts are Nick Hague, Don Petitt, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.
The Crew 10 is a replacement crew, onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, and it took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4.33am IST on March 15.
Return of US astronauts
The successful arrival of Crew10 on ISS is a major development since it will pave the way for stranded US astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore to return home to Earth, after spending nine months in space for a mission that was to be much shorter.
Their stay in space got extended for an indefinite time after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that took them to the ISS had developed issues. Now, they will return on SpaceX Dragon's Freedom capsule along with Crew-9 members Nick Hague (NASA) and Aleksandr Gorbunov (Roscosmos).
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, who are part of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission, is a replacement crew.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying the members of Crew-10 took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4.33am IST on March 15.
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Live Updates
- 16 March 2025 4:04 AM GMT
Crew-10 set to make a final approach as it is just 7m away from the ISS as it makes a final approach.
