NASA's stuck astronauts welcome their newly arrived replacements to the
space station
[March 17, 2025]
By MARCIA DUNN
CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — 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. |

This image made from video by NASA shows astronauts Don Pettit, bottom
center, hugging Kirill Peskov as astronauts greet each other after a
SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday,
March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP) |
The four newcomers — representing the U.S., Japan and Russia —
will spend some time 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, one that has been up
there since last year, 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.
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.
While the seven space station residents prepared for the new
arrivals, one of the Russians — Ivan Vagner — briefly put on an
alien mask in a lighthearted moment. Wilmore swung open the
space station's hatch and rang the ship's bell as the new crew
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 early Tuesday and splash down off Florida's coast later
that evening.
Until then, there will be 11 aboard the orbiting lab,
representing the U.S., Russia and Japan.
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