The SpaceX capsule that will return Boeing Starliner astronauts to the space station has arrived

(CNN) –– After their week-long trip turned into a months-long stay on the International Space Station, two Boeing Starliner astronauts are now within reach of the spacecraft that will eventually bring them home.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, chosen by NASA to transport astronauts Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore to Earth after their Starliner spacecraft was deemed too risky for the crew, has arrived at the space station. Vehicle in A mission called crew 9, It docked at the International Space Station at approximately 5:30 PM ET on Sunday.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov are on board the SpaceX spacecraft. Next to them are two empty seats, designated for Williams and Wilmore to occupy when the group returns to Earth next year.

At 7:15 p.m. ET, the capsule’s hatch is expected to open, allowing Hague and Gorbunov to enter the space station. A welcome ceremony is scheduled for that time with Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, Wilmore and the seven other crew members currently aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Hague and Gorbunov lifted off aboard the Crew Dragon on Saturday afternoon from Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida. Although they reached their intended orbit without problems, SpaceX later revealed that the second, or upper, stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, which occupied the first part of its flight, had a problem after it separated from the capsule.

“Following the successful launch of Crew-9, the Falcon 9 second stage was jettisoned into the ocean as planned, but experienced an unusual in-orbit burn,” the company shared in a statement. Share on X. “As a result, the second stage landed safely in the ocean, but outside the planned area.”

SpaceX has indicated that it will temporarily suspend flights using the Falcon 9 rocket (the world’s most launched rocket) while this anomaly is analyzed. “We will resume launches after we better understand the root cause,” the company said in the X post.

CNN has contacted the FAA for comment.

Meanwhile, Crew-9’s Crew Dragon capsule spent about a day traveling through orbit as it prepared to dock with the International Space Station. Once safely inserted into one of the station’s docking ports, the spacecraft will open its door, allowing Hague and Gorbunov to join the other astronauts already aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Together, Hague, Williams, Willmore and Gorbunov will complete SpaceX’s Crew-9 team. The group will spend about five months aboard the space station before returning home.

Williams and Willmore first traveled to the International Space Station in early June aboard a Boeing Starliner spacecraft in what was expected to be a week-long test mission.

But problems with helium leaks and faulty boosters left engineers scrambling to figure out what went wrong. NASA eventually decided that the Starliner’s problems were not well understood enough for the space agency to allow Williams and Willmore to return aboard.

However, the Starliner returned home empty on 6 September.

After deciding not to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth aboard the Starliner ship, NASA instead chose to rearrange SpaceX’s flight plans. He decided to pull two more astronauts (spaceflight veteran Stephanie Wilson and Xena Cardman, who was about to make her first flight into space) from the Crew-9 mission to make room for the Starliner team.

But this means that Williams and Willmore will have to fulfill the duties of the original Crew-9 crew, which will require months of routine work on the space station before the return flight.

Both Williams and Willmore, veterans of previous missions to the space station, said they have adjusted easily to the idea of ​​staying in space until next year, with Williams referring to the microgravity environment as their “happy place.”

The team currently aboard the International Space Station is completed by Don Pettit, Alexei Ovchinin of NASA, and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The three arrived at the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on September 11.

Pettit and Gorbunov traveled on a spacecraft developed outside their home countries as part of a seat-swap agreement between NASA and its Russian counterpart.