However, SpaceX founder Elon Musk and others have suggested that their extended stay on the ISS was politically motivated.
SpaceX successfully launched the Crew Dragon 10 spacecraft to the International Space Station on Friday night that will bring back two NASA astronauts who have been stuck in orbit for nine months. The Crew-10 mission took off shortly after 7 p.m. aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The spacecraft is set to reach the ISS by late Saturday night, where it will replace astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. The two astronauts could make their return to Earth as soon as Wednesday, with a planned splashdown in Florida. Williams and Wilmore have been stranded in orbit since June 5 but will finally be back.
End of the Ordeal
Williams and Wilmore will return to Earth aboard one of the docked SpaceX capsules, accompanied by American astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who traveled to space in September.
Their journey home will bring an end to a nine-month ordeal that began when their original eight-day mission on the ISS was extended indefinitely due to a Boeing malfunction, which severely damaged the company’s reputation last year.
