RNS: In a successful mission, NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov have officially entered the International Space Station (ISS) after docking aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
The crew entered the ISS at 11:05 AM IST, following the opening of hatches between the spacecraft and the station.
The astronauts were welcomed by the Expedition 72 crew, which includes NASA’s Sunita Williams, Nick Hague, Don Petitt, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.
Earlier, at 9:35 AM IST, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS after launching from Texas on Friday.
This mission marks an important milestone for astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are now preparing for their return to Earth after being in orbit for over nine months.
The two astronauts had originally planned for a brief one-week mission aboard Boeing’s first crewed flight.
However, following a series of technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner capsule, NASA decided to leave the test pilots behind, requiring a SpaceX lift to bring them home.
Weather permitting, the SpaceX capsule carrying Williams, Wilmore, and two other astronauts will undock from the ISS no earlier than Wednesday, with plans for a splashdown off the coast of Florida.
