Four astronauts were delivered to the International Space Station by a SpaceX capsule this morning, as part of a NASA mission to relieve two astronauts who have been stuck in orbit for nine months.
Nearly 30 hours after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the SpaceX Dragon capsule docked with the ISS.
The crew were greeted by the station’s seven-man crew, including Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have remained on board the station since the Boeing Starliner capsule they were supposed to ride home was forced to leave without them after suffering technical difficulties.
Wilmore and Williams are due to depart the ISS on Wednesday at 4 am ET, with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who flew to the ISS to retrieve them.
The rescue mission became a political issue recently when Elon Musk claimed President Joe Biden refused his help retrieving the stranded astronauts.
Musk told Sean Hannity that working with him would have made Trump “look good” and that Biden “didn’t want the publicity” that close to the presidential election.
In a press conference at the beginning of March, Butch Wilmore said he believed the story was true.
“I can only say that Mr. Musk, what he says, is absolutely factual… I believe him,” he said.
“All of us have the utmost respect for Mr. Musk, and obviously, respect and admiration for our president of the United States, Donald Trump. We appreciate them. We appreciate all that they do for us, for human space flight, for our nation,” Williams added during the press conference.