CAPE CAAVERAL, Florida, USA (AP) The two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station since June welcomed the SpaceX capsule that arrived to return them to Earth.
SpaceX launched the rescue mission on Saturday with a reduced crew of two astronauts and two empty seats reserved for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will return next year. The Dragon capsule docked in the darkness above Botswana as both spacecraft orbited 420 kilometers (260 miles) above the planet.
NASA decided to have SpaceX pick up Wilmore and Williams due to concerns about the safety of its Boeing Starliner capsule. It was the first crewed Starliner flight, and the space agency decided that the thruster failures and helium leaks that occurred after takeoff were too serious and their cause not well understood to risk the pilots in a return flight. in it. So, the Starliner came back empty a few weeks ago.
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