NASA's mission to rescue stranded astronauts begins: A welcome with an alien mask

The SpaceX Dragon capsule reached the ISS after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The mission's primary objectives were to deliver four new astronauts to the station and to bring stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth.

Wilmore opened the space station's hatch to let the new arrivals in. The team greeted each other with hugs and handshakes.

In a conversation with mission control, Williams said, 'It was a great day. It was great to see our friends arrive.'

Williams and Wilmore will spend the next few days helping their new colleagues adjust to the station.

The two stranded astronauts will begin their return journey to Earth in the SpaceX Dragon capsule no earlier than Wednesday, alongside Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov. The pair had been stranded in orbit since June 5.

Although SpaceX owner Elon Musk and some officials claimed that the astronauts were left in space for political reasons, these claims were denied by the astronauts themselves.

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov arrived at the ISS on Sunday via the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

At the time of docking with the station, they were approximately 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.

Following the connection of the Dragon to the Harmony module, standard leak checks and pressurization procedures were carried out between the team and the station.

With the opening of the hatches, McClain, Ayers, Onishi, and Peskov were welcomed by the Expedition 72 crew. With this new addition, the number of crew members on the station rose to 11.

The Expedition 72 team consists of NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Don Petitt, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.

The Crew-9 members will remain on the station for a short time before returning to Earth after completing their duties.

Sources: NASA, Dragon mission: SpaceX, Crew 10 mission