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It is reported that the spacecraft sent by the US Space Exploration Technologies Corporation successfully docked with the International Space Station. The American astronauts who had been stranded in space for more than 9 months finally waited for the return spacecraft.
SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) in the early hours of March 16 local time, allowing two astronauts who had been trapped in orbit for months to finally return to Earth.
The US “Space” website said on the 16th that after a 12-day launch delay, SpaceX’s “Falcon 9” carrier rocket successfully ignited on the 14th, sending the manned “Dragon” spacecraft carrying four astronauts into the predetermined orbit. After about 29 hours of space travel, the spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station in the early morning of the 16th Eastern Time. According to reports, the Crew-10 mission group on the spacecraft includes American astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian astronaut Kirill Peskov. Their mission is to replace the Crew-9 mission group currently on the International Space Station and Wilmore and Williams, who have been stranded in space for 9 months. The video shows that after the manned “Dragon” spacecraft completed the docking, Wilmore opened the hatch with a smile on his face to welcome his new colleagues. The two groups of astronauts also took a group photo together. According to NASA, the four new astronauts will conduct more than 200 scientific experiments and technical demonstrations at the International Space Station, including flammability tests of spacecraft materials and lunar navigation scheme tests.
The report mentioned that on June 5 last year, Wilmore and Williams boarded the Boeing “Starliner” spacecraft for the first manned test flight and docked with the International Space Station. However, during this test flight, the “Starliner” spacecraft had problems such as thruster failure and helium leakage, and they could not be repaired for a long time, resulting in repeated delays in the return time. In the end, NASA decided to let the “Starliner” spacecraft return to Earth on its own, and the two American astronauts waited for the new manned “Dragon” spacecraft.
According to the “on-orbit exchange” principle adopted by the rotation of astronauts on the International Space Station, the previous batch of astronauts will leave only after the new batch of astronauts arrive at the International Space Station to complete the work handover, ensuring that the two batches of astronauts can fully communicate about the situation of the International Space Station. Therefore, although a new manned Dragon spacecraft had successfully docked with the International Space Station on September 30 last year, Wilmore and Williams could not take the spacecraft home immediately, but had to wait for the astronauts of the Crew-10 mission group on the manned Dragon spacecraft to rotate before they could go home.
During their stay at the International Space Station, the outside world was concerned about the physical condition of the two American astronauts, and many media described them as “abandoned in space.” US President Trump also criticized the former Biden administration for “abandoning” the two astronauts in space. He also said that he had instructed SpaceX and its CEO Musk to take action to bring Wilmore and Williams back as soon as possible. But both astronauts said that they were not “trapped in space or abandoned” because manned space missions are full of unexpected challenges and they have long been prepared. They completed spacewalks many times during this period, and Williams also broke the record for the longest cumulative spacewalk time for female astronauts.
Reuters said that the handover work at the International Space Station can usually be completed within two days, which means that Wilmore and Williams can return to Earth as early as March 19.
