1 / 8Just over a day after launch, a SpaceX crew capsule docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, March 16, carrying four astronauts to replace NASA’s two stranded crew members, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. NASA and SpaceX launched the long-awaited crew to the ISS on Friday, March 14. (Image: AP)
2 / 8SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which paves the way for the return of US astronauts who have been stuck on the orbital lab for nine months, lifted off at 7:03 pm ET (2303 GMT) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Williams and Wilmore, both veteran NASA astronauts and retired US Navy test pilots, were the first to fly Boeing’s faulty Starliner capsule to the ISS in June. (Image: Reuters)
3 / 8After the four Crew-10 astronauts arrived at the ISS on Saturday at 11:30 pm ET, Williams and Wilmore are scheduled to depart on Wednesday as early as 4 am ET (0800 GMT), along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Hague and Gorbunov had flown to the ISS in September on a Crew Dragon craft with two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams. (Image: AP)
4 / 8Representing the US, Japan, and Russia, the newcomers will spend the next few days familiarising themselves with the station under the guidance of Williams and Wilmore. The newly arrived crew includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, both military pilots, along with Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, both former airline pilots. They will remain aboard the ISS for six months, the standard mission duration, before taking over responsibilities from Wilmore and Williams. (Image: AP)
5 / 8Anne McClain | Hailing from Spokane, Washington, NASA astronaut Anne McClain has embarked on her second journey to the space station since joining the agency as an astronaut in 2013. During her first mission, she served as a flight engineer for 204 days on Expeditions 58 and 59, completing two spacewalks totaling 13 hours and 8 minutes. Since then, McClain has taken on multiple leadership roles, including branch chief and space station assistant to the chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office. (Image: Reuters)
6 / 8Nichole Ayers | The Crew-10 mission marks the first spaceflight for Nichole Ayers, a US Air Force major and the first astronaut from NASA’s 2021 class to be assigned to a crew. An experienced pilot, Ayers has served as an instructor and mission commander for the T-38 ADAIR and F-22 Raptor, leading multinational and multiservice operations worldwide. She has logged over 1,400 flight hours, including more than 200 in combat. Originally from San Diego, California, Ayers now resides in Colorado Springs with her husband. (Image: AP)
7 / 8Takuya Onishi | The Crew-10 mission is Takuya Onishi’s second journey to the space station. Selected as a JAXA astronaut in 2009, he previously spent 113 days in space as a flight engineer for Expeditions 48 and 49, launching aboard the Soyuz MS-01 mission in 2016. (Image: Reuters)
8 / 8Kirill Peskov | The Crew-10 mission marks Kirill Peskov’s first journey to the International Space Station. Before being selected as a cosmonaut in 2018, he worked as a co-pilot on Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for airlines Nordwind and Ikar. Designated as a test cosmonaut in 2020, Peskov brings additional expertise in skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival. (Image: Reuters)
