This comes nine months after two NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were stranded there on a mission that was meant to last about a week.

SpaceX's spacecraft has arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) to bring two NASA astronauts back to Earth. They have been stranded in orbit since June 2024, reports The Guardian. According to the publication,

NASA's two stranded astronauts were overjoyed to welcome the SpaceX crew, representing the U.S., Japan and Russia, to the ISS on Sunday.

Reaching orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the newest crew includes NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, both military pilots; and Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, both former airline pilots. They will spend the next six months at the space station, considered the normal stint, after springing Wilmore and Williams free.

A pair of astronauts stranded for more than nine months on the International Space Station were a step closer to returning home Sunday after a replacement crew docked with the orbital outpost. The astronauts were shown on live TV embracing and hugging their counterparts in zero gravity on the space station shortly after their SpaceX Crew Dragon arrived at 5.

A SpaceX capsule destined to bring stranded astronauts back to Earth docks at the ISS:: NASA TV:: March 16, 2025:: Problems with Boeing's Starliner capsule left Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams stuck on the station for nine months :: Suni Williams,

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS), completing a crucial NASA mission that will finally bring home two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams,