Stunning Moment When SpaceX Dragon Docked With ISS — Watch Video Shared By Astronaut Don Pettit

The Crew-10 astronauts arrived at the ISS on March 16, joining the Expedition 72 crew. This arrival allows Crew-9 to return to Earth on March 18.

Four astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on March 16 as part of the Crew-10 mission. The world watched as NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov entered the space station and joined the Expedition 72 crew soon after the hatches between the ISS and the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft Endurance opened at 1.35 am EDT (11:05 am IST). Their arrival paved the way for the return of Crew-9 to Earth. 

Among the Expedition 72 crew who welcomed the Crew-10 members were NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Don Petitt, Sunita Williams, and Barry Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.

Pettit later shared a fascinating video that captured the exact moment Dragon Endurance docked with the ISS at 12.04 am EDT (9.34 pm IST, March 15) when the station was orbiting around 260 statute miles over the Atlantic Ocean.

Watch the video:  

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Crew-9 To Return On March 18

According to NASA updates, the Dragon spacecraft linked up to the forward-facing port of the Harmony module at the space station, after which the crew members conducted "standard leak checks and pressurization" between the Dragon capsule and the ISS. This was followed by opening of the hatch for the new crew to enter the orbiting lab.

With Crew-10 joining the Expedition 72 crew, the International Space Station will have a total of 11 astronauts aboard it until Crew-9 returns after the crew handover. According to the latest update shared by the space agency, NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, besides Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, will return aboard SpaceX Dragon spacecraft Freedom on March 18.

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were integrated with Crew-9 in October 2024, over two months after their scheduled return in July was cancelled due to issues with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft that had be brought back uncrewed.