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NASA, SpaceX Launch Capsule to Fetch Stranded Astronauts: Watch It Dock on Sunday

A Dragon spacecraft lifted off from Florida on Saturday and is set to bring home two astronauts who've been stuck on the International Space Station for months.

Headshot of Edward Moyer
Headshot of Edward Moyer
Edward Moyer Former Senior Editor
Ed is a many-year veteran of the writing and editing world who enjoys taking sentences apart and putting them back together. He also likes making them from scratch. For more than a quarter of a century, he's edited and written stories about various aspects of the technology world, from the US National Security Agency's controversial spying techniques to historic NASA space missions to 3D-printed works of fine art. Before that, he wrote about movies, musicians, artists and subcultures. Outside of work, he has a weakness for gardens and parks, and for 18th and 19th century novels (and more recent ones as well).
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  • Ed was a member of the CNET crew that won a National Magazine Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors for general excellence online. He's also edited pieces that've nabbed prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists and others.
Edward Moyer
2 min read
A photo shows the familiar site of a rocket lifting off, with the impressive orange flames from the rocket's tail, and the cloudlike streams of white smoke.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft blasts off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday.

 Keegan Barber/NASA

It looks like Butch and Suni's ride home is headed their way.

The two NASA astronauts — Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams — have been stuck on the International Space Station for nearly four months, due to problems with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that had been meant to carry them back to Earth after a mere eight days.

On Saturday, though, a little after 10 a.m. PT, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral carrying the Dragon spacecraft that's set to eventually bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth. (The Boeing Starliner returned home without a crew earlier this month, landing in New Mexico on Sept. 6.)

The SpaceX Dragon holds NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Two other crew members were bumped from this mission to leave a pair of seats empty for Butch and Suni's return journey.

The two are now scheduled to head back to Earth, along with Hague and Gorbunov, in February 2025. In the meantime, they'll be working on research, maintenance and data analysis, and they also plan to vote from space in the November presidential election.

Neither Wilmore nor Williams seems to have gotten fidgety during their unexpectedly extended stay. "It's very peaceful up here," Williams said during a live news conference on Sept. 20, though she did add that the two miss their families back on Earth.

Read more: New Photos Reveal Holes in NASA Mars Rover Wheels, but They're Still Turning

The Dragon is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 2:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, with NASA covering the rendezvous, docking and hatch opening live starting at 1:30 p.m. PT. It'll also broadcast the crew welcome ceremony once Hague and Gorbunov are on board the space station. You can watch on NASA Plus, on the agency's website and on a variety of platforms, including YouTube.

"This mission required a lot of operational and planning flexibility. I congratulate the entire team on a successful launch today, and godspeed to Nick and Aleksandr as they make their way to the space station," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a press release Saturday.

"Our NASA wizards and our commercial and international partners have shown once again the success that comes from working together and adapting to changing circumstances without sacrificing the safe and professional operations of the International Space Station."