SpaceX crew arrives at the ISS, with plans to bring back 2 stranded astronauts

Butch Wilmore, far left, and Suni Williams, far right, welcome Nick Hague, front left in blue, and Alexander Gorbunov, front right in blue, on Sunday. Behind them, from left in black, are NASA's Jeanette Epps, Russia's Alexander Grebenkin, NASA's Mike Barratt and NASA's Matthew Dominick. From left, in red, are Russia's Ivan Vagner, NASA's Don Pettit and Russia's Alexei Ovchinin. NASA/AP hide caption

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NASA/AP

Two astronauts have arrived safely at the International Space Station after Saturday's successful SpaceX launch.

The Crew-9 mission, helmed by astronauts NASA’s Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia’s space agency, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:17 p.m. ET.

Hague and Gorbunov were all smiles as they entered the station the following evening, hugging the ISS crew members already onboard.

The two new members had a smooth trip on SpaceX’s first crewed mission to launch with only two astronauts on board since 2020. Hague and Gorbunov are saving room to bring home two NASA astronauts stuck at the ISS.

The stranded pair, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, flew to the ISS aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule on June 5 on what was supposed to be an eight-day test mission. But the two have remained there due to concerns about the safety of Boeing's capsule. NASA made the “tough decision” to return Starliner to Earth without the crew earlier this month.

During the planned five-month mission at the ISS, the crew will conduct more than 200 science experiments and demonstrations including studies of blood clotting, effects of moisture on plants grown in space and vision changes in astronauts.

Hague and Gorbunov are slated to return to Earth, with Wilmore and Williams aboard, in February.