US astronauts stuck in space station welcome their 4 SpaceX replacements

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are expected to return to Earth in their own SpaceX capsule later this week

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SpaceX Crew-10 mission astronauts en route to the launch complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Friday. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:38pm, 16 Mar 2025Updated: 2:23pm, 16 Mar 2025

Just over a day after blasting off, a SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering the replacements for Nasa’s two stuck astronauts.

The four newcomers – representing the United States, Japan and Russia – will spend the next few days learning the station’s ins and outs from Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Then the two will strap into their own SpaceX capsule later this week to close out an unexpected extended mission that began last June.

Wilmore and Williams expected to be gone just a week when they launched on Boeing’s first astronaut flight. They hit the nine-month mark earlier this month.

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore pose ahead of the launch of Boeing’s Starliner-1 crew flight test last April. Photo: Reuters

The Boeing Starliner capsule encountered so many problems that Nasa insisted it come back empty, leaving its test pilots behind to wait for a SpaceX lift.

Wilmore swung open the space station’s hatch and then rang the ship’s bell as the new arrivals floated in one by one and were greeted with hugs and handshakes.

“It was a wonderful day. Great to see our friends arrive,” Williams told Mission Control.

Wilmore’s and Williams’ ride arrived back in late September with a downsized crew of two and two empty seats reserved for the leg back. But more delays resulted when their replacements’ brand new capsule needed extensive battery repairs. An older capsule took its place, pushing up their return by a couple weeks to mid-March.