SpaceX capsule docks to rescue stranded astronauts

Elon Musk’s SpaceX made capsule docked at the International Space Station early on Sunday, delivering a new crew to enable US astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to return to Earth following a nine-month mission that was supposed to last for eight days only. 

The Dragon capsule docked at 12.04am, about 29 hours after launching from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with four new crew members from the US, Japan and Russia. 

Williams and Wilmore, along with Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, are expected to return home on Wednesday after a handover period.

The original plan was for the Boeing CST-100 Starliner that carried Williams and Wilmore to the ISS in June to bring them home after their short mission.

But Nasa in August decided that the Starliner could not be used because of thruster problems and helium leaks on the outward journey.

The decision was a humiliating setback for Boeing, raising questions about the company’s space ambitions at a time when its core commercial aircraft operation was already under intense regulatory pressure following last year’s mid-air blowout of a door panel on a 737 Max.