A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) at 12:04 a.m. ET (0404 GMT) on Sunday, delivering four astronauts in NASA’s Crew-10 mission.

Launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 7:03 p.m. ET on Friday, the capsule carried NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. The 29-hour journey marked the beginning of a six-month stint for the crew and set the stage for the long-awaited return of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, stranded on the ISS for nine months.

Wilmore and Williams, both retired Navy test pilots, launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner in June 2024 for what was meant to be a brief mission. However, thruster malfunctions and helium leaks forced NASA to send the capsule back to Earth empty, leaving the pair aboard the orbiting lab.

Their extended stay ends this week, with a planned departure as early as 4 a.m. ET on Wednesday alongside Crew-9’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who arrived in September with two empty seats reserved for them.

The Crew-10 team was greeted by the ISS’s seven residents, including Wilmore and Williams, who’ve adapted to life in microgravity far longer than anticipated. Williams recently shared her excitement about returning to her family and two dogs, noting the emotional toll on loved ones. McClain, the mission commander, leads a diverse crew tasked with conducting experiments and maintaining the station through September.

This mission underscores SpaceX’s reliability as NASA’s partner, stepping in where Boeing faltered. As Wilmore and Williams prepare for splashdown, Crew-10 begins its work, ensuring the ISS remains a hub of international collaboration and scientific discovery.