The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed the successful docking in a post on X, writing, “SpaceX Dragon docks with Space Station.”
NASA released a statement confirming that the spacecraft docked at 12:04 a.m. EDT while the ISS was approximately 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean. Following the docking, the crew members aboard Dragon and the space station will conduct standard leak checks and pressurization before the scheduled hatch opening at approximately 1:45 a.m. (U.S. time).
The Crew-10 astronauts will join the existing Expedition 72 crew aboard the ISS, temporarily increasing the station’s population to 11 before Crew-9 members—Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Aleksandr Gorbunov—return to Earth after a brief handover period.
This mission is particularly significant as it was launched to rescue NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded on the ISS for nine months. The two astronauts originally traveled to the station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June last year for what was supposed to be a short stay. However, Starliner returned to Earth unmanned in September due to technical issues, including helium leaks and problems with its reaction control thrusters.
The rescue mission was expedited after former U.S. President Donald Trump urged Elon Musk to bring back the stranded astronauts sooner than NASA had originally planned. Trump previously criticized President Joe Biden’s administration, accusing it of neglecting the situation.
The Crew-10 mission was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Friday at 7:03 p.m. ET, with the Dragon spacecraft successfully reaching the ISS two days later. With the docking completed, efforts are now underway to bring Wilmore and Williams safely back to Earth.
