Hugs, handshakes as NASA’s stuck astronauts welcome replacements

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 US, Japan and Russia — will spend the next few days familiarising themselves with the space station under the guidance of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams.

Later this week, Wilmore and Williams will board their own SpaceX capsule, which has been docked at the station since last year, to conclude an unexpectedly extended mission that began in June.

Originally, the duo was scheduled for a one-week stay following their launch on Boeing’s first astronaut flight. However, they marked nine months in space earlier this month.

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.

Weather permitting, the SpaceX capsule carrying Wilmore, Williams and two other astronauts will undock from the space station no earlier than Wednesday and splash down off Florida’s coast.

Until then, there will be 11 aboard the orbiting lab.